Emerging from the Shadows
by SimplyUnsolvedMystery
Summary: Kakashi's entire life has been spent in the shadows. When you've spent your entire life masquerading as a man, how do you cope with the sudden realization that your secret is out? Perhaps Naruto's sunny personality can save her yet. Fem!Kaka/Naru Evil!Gai
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to 'Emerging from the Shadows'.

Dedicated to my dear friends ChaCha1 and MischievousPuck. These ladies like to feed the bunnies while I'm not looking. ^_^

I wasn't lying when I said the bunnies attacked me New Years. This is just the first of several lengthy oneshots that will be making a debut this year. As of now, I have two of the oneshots in-progress, and a new multi-chapter fic in the planning stages. Never fear, my other stories are all ready to be updated too. I never start something I can't finish if I can help it.

**Very important background info:**

First and foremost, Kakashi is **_female _**in this story, with Naruto being the male. (Hey, I've got to switch it up sometimes) There are some scenes with maleXmale kissing and touching, but mostly the romance is maleXfemale. This is rated M, but it's not a sex showcase. I like to focus on emotions, not descriptions. It is my first M rated story, so please don't hold back on your critiques.

Gai is evil in this story. I know this seems far fetched, but I like taking characters to the extreme of their personalities. I'm sure I'm not the only one that's thought Gai was just a little too intense, like he was hiding something. That's when I was pointed into the direction of misogyny. Misogyny is an extreme hatred of women. I turned Gai into a misogynist to suit my purposes for this fic. I personally love Gai, he's lovable, but Gai needed to be evil in this fic in order for it to work.

For now, this is all I want you guys to know. I'll clear up any questions at the bottom of the page.

Happy Readings!

* * *

"This isn't fair to Kakashi!"

Wind whipped the shaggy blond hair around as the man glowered at the downtrodden silver haired man standing solemnly in the middle of the deserted training field. Darkness covered the entire area, making their meeting seen only by the hooting night owls and chirping crickets. Despite the darkness, the full moon above gave the blond haired man just enough light to look at the other man in front of him. Dark purple bags beneath the man's eyes made him look older than his thirty-five-years. The once strong, handsome man that used to stand tall now slumped despondently, as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He was literally becoming nothing more than a shadow of the man he used to be.

"Minato. Please, don't interfere"

His voice was desperate enough for Minato to want to pity him, but concern for his student prevented him from caring too much. As much as he wanted to save Sakumo, Kakashi came first. Besides, Minato knew deep in his heart that Sakumo had already made up his mind and nothing would change it. Minato wouldn't dishonor Sakumo by trying to stop his final wishes. He owed the man that much.

"What about Kakashi? Are you going to tell him the truth?"

Sakumo shook his head slowly as he looked up towards the sky. "I can't. I just can't. Watch over my Kakashi for me, will you? Keep him safe."

Minato closed his eyes and nodded his head already disgusted at the half-lie he was willing to tell just to ease a suicidal man's mind. "All I can do is strengthen the seal. One day Kakashi will find out the truth. I'll make sure of it, Sakumo."

Sakumo lowered his eyes as he nodded his head. "I understand, but make sure he can protect himself when the time comes for you to tell him. I'll be damned before I let some sick bastard do the same things to Kakashi that they did to my wife." The silver haired man looked up and locked gazes with Minato. "Protect my Kakashi-chan."

Minato resisted the urge to argue back at Sakumo that dying wouldn't protect Kakashi, but Sakumo's mind was made up already, it was only a matter of time before the man took his own life. "I'll do my best."

The Hatake disappeared in smoke, looking a little bit younger and more rested. It was the last time Minato saw the elder, silver haired Hatake alive.

"May the gods have mercy on your soul, Sakumo, and may they grant me the strength to shatter a child's world."

The rumbling thunder from the east did nothing to put Minato's mind at ease.

* * *

**Years later….**

* * *

"_Abomination!"_

_"Unnatural!"_

_"Poison, pure poison!"_

The whispered and hissed insults were possibly the worst part of walking through Konoha's market for twenty-one-year-old Uzumaki Naruto. The blond haired, blue eyed man tried to take it all in stride with that impossibly bright smile on his face, but the insults shook him to his core. Even if he didn't show it, his very heart was breaking at the anger and repulsion in those words. Those words made it seem like everything he had accomplished so far had been for naught. He felt no more respected than the little boy that used to cry pitiful tears in the middle of a crowd only to be ignored by the moving adults. It was a cold, lonely feeling that Naruto didn't like very much.

It was a feeling that sent him right back to his childhood.

The words and glares still hurt just as much as they used to. This time around, though, there was a distinct difference between the words hissed. Where once there would have been low-pitched, barely whispered insults of 'monster' now were replaced with malicious, disgusted insults about his sexual orientation.

Boy did that sting, not that Naruto cared or anything.

Most civilians were smart, but a small majority never failed to show their ignorance. While Naruto's relationship with his lover didn't bother most of the shinobi and civilians, a select few citizens of Konoha couldn't stand the sight of the man with his lover. So what if the person was fourteen years older than him? So what if the person was once his sensei? So what if the person in question just so happened to be the Hatake Kakashi, shinobi of a thousand jutsu? It shouldn't matter to the civilians who he, Uzumaki Naruto, fell in love with when the only people it concerned were him and his Kakashi.

Despite the cold looks Naruto received as he continued to Kakashi's small apartment just on the outside of the village, he couldn't help but let the corners of his lips twitch up into a soft smile as he thought about his unusual lover.

Kakashi was everything Naruto wanted in a mate with a few extra spices thrown in. The blond never knew what his lover was going to do next. Don't get him wrong, it took a while for Kakashi to get comfortable with their relationship, but it wasn't long before the other was going out of his way to show Naruto his affection. Sure, he hadn't said 'I love you' yet, but Naruto could practically feel the love there. He learned rather quickly that sometimes not saying 'I love you' was even better than saying it. Their relationship continuously took him by surprise because Kakashi was just that unpredictable. One day Kakashi would randomly bring him ramen and the next day he'd swear up and down that ramen was the unhealthiest food on the earth. Their relationship was thrilling, exciting, and downright frustrating.

Naruto would never admit to loving every minute of it, but he did. He loved every little quirk Kakashi had, from the chronic lateness to the perverted Icha Icha books. It was all just so Kakashi that Naruto found it endearing and downright adorable.

With his spirits renewed and the events of the marketplace already being pushed behind him, Naruto literally skipped the rest of the way to Kakashi's apartment. Taking only enough time to undo the wards around the front door, Naruto continued his jolly strut all the way into the living room where he found his silver haired lover sprawled out on the couch with that horrendous orange book in hand.

One dark eye looked over the top of the book before curving up in the familiar upturned shape that Naruto missed so much while he was away. Blue eyes quickly scanned the relaxed form on the couch long enough to notice the various bandages and scrapes running along the pale, uncovered arms. The giddy feeling in the pit of Naruto's stomach instantly turned to irritation as he saw the half-assed job Kakashi had done with the attempted healing. It was almost like his silver haired lover wanted him to see the poor job.

Naruto bit back his sigh as he walked into the bathroom to get the first aid kit. Strangely enough, Kakashi was very touchy-feely at the most random times. The shinobi thrived off of watching Naruto trying to unpeel himself from his side whenever Kakashi decided he needed to be bodily attached to the blond. The elite shinobi seemed like an affectionate puppy half the time and a sex starved rabbit the other half.

Naruto still couldn't figure out which side he liked more either.

Kakashi silently moved to the small kitchen table and waited for Naruto to reappear in the kitchen. It didn't take long before the blond set the first aid kit on the table and reached for a sore, lean arm. The cuts were infected and Naruto had to force himself to be gentle as he scrubbed at a small bit of dirt caught in the red wound. Kakashi lowered his eye, but didn't flinch as Naruto glared accusingly at him.

"Kakashi?"

It was a question. One that Kakashi knew from the many previous times before when Naruto cleaned his minor wounds that were serious enough to warrant hospital visitation, but ignored by him. Every little meaningless question about the wounds and how they were received wrapped up into one tried sigh of his name.

Only Naruto could make the famed Copy Ninja feel like a naughty child.

Kakashi didn't speak as he let Naruto carefully apply disinfectant to his wounds and properly bandage them. He didn't even move until Naruto snapped closed the first aid kit and rested an overly warm hand against his chilled one. Even then, he only flinched when Naruto thumbed a soft circle onto a bruised knuckle.

"What happened this time?"

Dry lips were licked behind the suddenly suffocating mask as Kakashi contemplated the question. Answering wrong would cost him a bed partner while answering right would gain him a handsome blond nurse. Kakashi loved when Naruto played nurse, especially wearing the Icha Icha themed nurse's uniform. Using all of his genius brain, Kakashi picked the best choice and just told the truth.

"One of Gai's challenges."

Naruto breathed heavily through his nose before hitting the end of the table with two closed fists. The table jumped up slightly from the ground before smacking back down onto the linoleum floor. Little splinters littered the black and white checkered floor as Naruto jumped up from the table and paced to the opposite side of the room.

"Fuck Kakashi. Why do you let that son of a bitch do this to you? Why the fuck can't you just stop it?"

Kakashi stood up, putting as much distance between himself and his partner as he could before trying to talk to him. His voice held conviction, strength, and a slight hint of hysteria as he tried to talk Naruto down. He knew if he didn't then Gai wouldn't be around much longer. Naruto's chakra was already turning dangerous. The anger visible as red licked around his body and dotted his normally blue eyes.

"It's alright, Naruto. Calm down." When Naruto didn't seem to be calming down, Kakashi took a step towards him. "You know exactly why I can't stop agreeing to these challenges. You know exactly why Gai must be kept happy."

Kakashi suddenly realized his mistake when Naruto growled dangerously and slammed his hands against the counter. For a moment Kakashi actually feared for the rest of his wooden furniture as Naruto stalked closer to him. In one maneuver Kakashi found himself pressed firmly against the kitchen wall with Naruto's voice growling loudly in his ear. "I need to calm down? Gai needs to be kept happy? What fucking planet do you live on, Kakashi-chan?"

Anger swelled in Kakashi's visible grey eye as he growled back at Naruto, letting his own chakra swell and battle against the leaking demonic one. "Calm down, Naru-chan, we're still in the kitchen if you haven't noticed yet."

Naruto didn't seem to hear as he grabbed both of Kakashi's wrists in one hand and pinned them to his right side, with one of Kakashi's arms uncomfortably crossed across his chest. Naruto had grown just about as tall as Kakashi, and he outweighed the silver haired man by at least forty pounds. Reaching down with his other hand, Naruto unzipped Kakashi's vest and ripped the buttons apart leaving a scarred, yet muscular, chest on view for the entire kitchen.

Kakashi uncharacteristically squirmed as Naruto's chakra filled fingers trailed down his lean stomach to rest around what looked to be a tattooed bellybutton. Strong muscles flexed underneath equally strong fingertips as Kakashi tried to move away from his lover. Once the silver haired man was that his lover was too far gone to listen to him, Kakashi tried one last ditch effort to calm the man down. Pouring as much authority as he could into his voice, Kakashi growled out the other shinobi's name.

"Naruto."

It worked nearly instantly.

The red chakra slowly disappeared from around Naruto as he loosened his grip on Kakashi's burnt wrists. He winced as he saw the angry, red burns on his lover's beautiful pale skin. Feeling suddenly foolish and tired beyond his years, Naruto leaned his head against Kakashi's curved shoulder. His breath tickling Kakashi's neck as his finger dipped along the lean ribs to meticulously count the scars carved there.

"It's not fair Kakashi. I'm tired of Gai holding this shit over your head. I'm tired of being called names. I'm tired of not being able to fully be with you. I'm tired of hiding in your bedroom."

Kakashi lowered his eye and his mask before turning to press a soft kiss full of affection and things he wouldn't say aloud against the side of Naruto's head. The older man knew he could have stopped Naruto at any time, if he really wanted to, but the blond man usually felt so guilty after he lost control that he would indulge Kakashi's kinkier desires. Naruto accepted the small peck by turning it into a full-on kiss, to which Kakashi grinned into. Yep, Naruto definitely felt guilty about his actions, so Kakashi would play the meek lover, 'til the blond wasn't expecting it. When things started getting heated, Naruto tugged on the other's arm and led him into Kakashi's bedroom.

The only place they could truly be a couple.

Once inside Kakashi and Naruto both put up the strongest protective seals they could. Kakashi's house was already covered in seals, but the bedroom and adjourning bathroom both were covered in kage level concealment seals collaborated on by the Sandaime and Yondaime Hokages. Anyone that didn't know the correct hand seals to unlock the concealment seals wouldn't be able to see into the windows or hear anything that went on inside the room. They were the perfect curtain when Kakashi and Naruto needed their privacy. Plus, having the seals up always put Kakashi more at ease.

It wasn't long before Naruto had Kakashi nearly naked, save for a pair of boxers. He filled them out nicely with an almost feminine backside and long, slender legs. Naruto loved those legs, especially when they were wrapped around his hips. With Kakashi sitting on the bed and Naruto standing in front of him, the blond haired man stalked over to his suddenly skittish lover. Kakashi always hated this part. Well, he loved the feeling of being released, but he didn't like the process it took to get there.

Naruto stood beside his lover at an awkward angle as he reached out to rest his hands on Kakashi's shoulders. He slowly massaged out sore muscles and rubbed out tense spots before resting his hand against the lower stomach of his lover. It always helped to calm Kakashi down if he was relaxed before Naruto did his magic. After drawing a soft circle around the tattooed stomach, Naruto filled his hand with chakra and slammed it hard against the flat stomach.

The henge broke instantly.

Where once there sat a tall, silver haired man now sat a tall, silver haired woman. Hatake Kakashi's greatest secret wasn't where he got his Sharingan from or how he rose through the ranks so quickly, but that _he_ was actually a _she_.

Naruto cooed affectionately as Kakashi ran her fingers through short silver hair to untangle the strands. Her hair only fell to her shoulders, but it looked like a curtain of pure silver that Naruto loved to run his fingers through. So different from the pink he used to chase after, but still an exotic color that stood out. She rarely dropped her henge for anything other than having sex with Naruto and sleeping, which unfortunately left her hair in a constant tangled mess. The silver haired woman stretched her arms above her head, giving Naruto a good view of her full, B-cup breasts. They weren't the biggest, but filled Naruto's hands perfectly.

Naruto wrapped his warm arms around her waist and pulled her up so he could hug her close to his body as he nibbled hungrily on the pale column of her neck. His hands dipped below the band of the boxers to caress her hips and dip between her legs. A surprisingly feminine moan filled the room as Naruto gently attacked her sensitive earlobe with his fanged teeth.

"Naruto."

He grinned against her neck as he picked her up and placed her on the bed. Kakashi rarely let Naruto play out all of his romantic fantasies, especially those that had her pretending to be some lovesick princess, but with the way things were going lately, Kakashi would let him have his fantasy. She would get to play out her own later. She really did owe Naruto one. He was the only one out of the five people in Konoha that hadn't freaked out after he found out her true gender. Instead, he took the information in stride. It didn't take him long to decide that she was his and he never looked back. She just thanked her lucky stars that Naruto hadn't reacted like Gai. Letting him find out hadn't been the best thing for the female Copy Ninja, but that was a subject she didn't want to think about while Naruto played with her body and pressed hot kisses along her collarbone.

Naruto brought his mouth back up to nip at her lips as he spread his body out on top of her. They were a beautiful picture together. Where she was lean, he was muscular. Even when she had her male henge up, Naruto's muscle mass and broad form dwarfed her well-earned athletic build. His hands never strayed far from her body as he massaged and pinched moans from her lips.

They were in for a rough night.

Kakashi could already tell from how sharp and punishing his bites were. A part of Kakashi felt horrible for everything she was putting Naruto through. They were masquerading as a gay couple so they could be together. Bad thing about it, Naruto was catching a lot of heat for it because he was the jinchūriki. For those that still couldn't look past Naruto being the Kyuubi container, this was just another strike against him. Even after everything her lover had done for the village, some would never accept him for the kind soul and brave man he was. Mentally Kakashi rolled her eyes, this was why she disliked being female, way too much estrogen in her system made her sentimental. She'd rather not start spouting declarations of love and gushy, overdramatic spews about the man hovering above her. She knew she'd embarrass herself enough later when he made her beg.

Naruto was just teasingly cruel like that.

He'd bring her to the edge, only to pull away and slowly cool her down just to work her right back up. It was infuriating and frustrating for the silver haired woman. None of her few lovers had ever denied her exactly what she wanted or ever had the balls to make her beg for her own release. Hell, before Naruto she'd never even had sex in the missionary position. Her past lovers were too uncomfortable with putting the famed Copy Ninja on her back. Not that Kakashi minded. She knew she could top from the bottom with no problem.

With Naruto, though, all of that was different. He let her have her kinky sessions, but he was very quick in reminding her that he was fully male with a burning desire for her. He trained under the Toad Sage Jiraiya, number one ladies' man and writer of Kakashi's favorite erotic series, so she expected the blond haired man to be well versed in all things concerning sex.

He hadn't disappointed her yet.

As Naruto kneeled before her and stripped off his shirt, putting those wonderful abs on display, Kakashi grinned mischievously. Scooting a few inches back from Naruto, she leaned forwards and kissed a well-known path up his chest. Stopping only to tease an erect nipple, Kakashi continued upwards until the loud moans were spilling into her ear and fingers were digging hard into her hips. Naruto rocked against her as she continued the gentle teasing. Finally getting tired of the feather light touches coupled with the sweet torture of the slightest pain from extra sharp touches, Naruto's muffled growl was her only warning as he slammed her down hard against the mattress. Situating himself between her legs, Naruto hummed pleasantly as he made himself comfortable. From Kakashi's perspective, he looked absolutely delectable with the stern concentration on his face and his hooded blue eyes cloudy with desire.

She slowly lost herself to the sight of Naruto above her. The hot breath against her ear and the nimble fingers upon her breasts drove Kakashi crazy, but not as crazy as having Naruto growl distractingly dirty words into her ear.

"Come on, 'Kashi, scream for me."

Despite everything she said she was going to allow him to do, Kakashi smirked as she hooked her legs around Naruto's hips and twisted their bodies. Straddling his waist, Kakashi leaned down and brushed a kiss against his nose. She may let him be dominating in their relationship some of the time, but sometimes she knew exactly when she needed to be on top.

"How about you scream for me, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto gave her a devilish smile before rapidly sitting up and upsetting her balance, causing her to fall backwards. He leaned forward and kissed her jaw sweetly. "Oh, I'll scream for you, babe, you better believe it."

On second thought, she really felt the sudden need to be lazy.

* * *

Hours later, with Kakashi spooned against Naruto and their hearts beating a hard rhythm against their chests, Naruto let his mind wander over the changes his life had taken in the past year. His disappointment at not being Hokage yet, his excitement of being asked to join ANBU, his frustration of watching Sakura pull away from him, and his growing love for the woman resting against his chest. Naruto sighed before cuddling Kakashi closer to him, she always lightly dozed after sex, something the blond couldn't help but call adorable.

He loved her. There was no doubt in his mind, no matter how many people tried to explain away his feelings for Kakashi. They would never be able to convince Naruto that he didn't love the woman in his arms. His heart beat too loudly and irregularly in his ear whenever she walked by or spoke to him for it not to be love. Not to mention the way his stomach would flutter whenever she laughed and gave him one of those genuine smiles. He didn't even want to mention the numerous nights of having to change his bed sheets after a really good dream starring his Kakashi.

Yes, he hadn't grown up with a family, but he knew what love was and if what he felt for Kakashi wasn't love then love didn't exist. Those that didn't know the truth about Kakashi's true gender called their relationship wrong. Did Naruto find her male form attractive? In a strange way, yes, but nothing compared to the true form beneath that henge. He would never betray Kakashi's trust, but he wished he could tell everybody the truth. Maybe then Sakura would actually talk to him instead of ignoring him and trying to convince him to get out of such an 'unnatural' relationship.

Sakura was a sore spot in Naruto's life. For so long he followed her like a bitch in heat, believing that she would one day return his feelings. It wasn't 'til he was sixteen that he realized she would never love him the same way he loved her. Naruto figured he could live with that and he did. He even dated Hyuuga Hinata for a few months after Konoha was attacked by Pein, but that ended rather quickly. Hinata realized she only admired him. She was currently his biggest supporter on his relationship with Kakashi. Naruto wondered if that was because her dojutsu could see the silver haired beauty's true form underneath the henge.

While he had a friend in Hinata, he nearly had an enemy in Sakura.

The pink haired girl fully believed that Kakashi was manipulating Naruto into a relationship. Apparently, Sakura feared that Kakashi was using Naruto as a means of living out some misplaced crush on Naruto's father, Minato. Whenever Naruto heard her yell out her fears in the middle of a crowded teashop he couldn't help but laugh at the girl. Of course that earned him a nice punch to the head, but what she said was so funny that he couldn't help himself. Once he and Kakashi started their relationship, they sat down and talked at length over anything and everything Naruto wanted to know about his father. Kakashi didn't speak much about her past, but she was very willing to speak about Minato. The woman loved him like a father and would gag at the thought of being romantically involved with him.

Once Sakura saw that argument wasn't going to get Naruto to break off the relationship, she tried the whole 'you just think you love him' method. The little bitch had the audacity to claim that Naruto was simply using an easy way out of having a serious relationship by going to someone that would require the least 'relationship maintenance'. Hell, she really didn't know Kakashi because his little silver haired _pain-in-the-ass_ was the pickiest, most demanding lover he'd ever had.

What really took the cake was the pink haired woman finally breaking down and weeping over the 'wrongness' of his relationship. The unnatural feeling she got whenever she thought about them together. Oh, and the complete 'waste' their relationship was. According to Sakura, if a relationship couldn't produce children, then it shouldn't exist. Well bitch, tell that to the couples that can't conceive children because of medical defects. Naruto was sure they'd love to be told that they shouldn't be together because they couldn't produce children.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Naruto gently tucked a strand of silver hair behind Kakashi's ear. He could only think about Sakura for so long before his temper started boiling. He hadn't spoken to her since the day he told her that his relationship was none of her damn business. She stayed as far away from him as she could and sometimes Naruto missed her presence. He did think of her as something akin to a sister.

Of course, in losing Sakura he gained so much more. Kakashi actually had a small posse that knew she was female. He didn't know all of the members, but he knew two of them very well, Sarutobi Asuma and Yamato. The duo visited with him whenever they heard he was dating Kakashi. They didn't flat out interrogate him or threaten him, but he got the idea that he was in trouble if he turned into another Gai.

Naruto knew if Kakashi ever heard that the two 'visited' him, then they would be in for a world of pain. Kakashi definitely wasn't a damsel in distress and could handle her own dragons if need be. Both men seemed to understand that completely. There were no claims of 'hurt her and I'll kill you' or 'you better treat her right.' They were both more concerned with Naruto keeping his silence about her gender. They knew others would give Naruto a hard time and wanted to make sure the man was prepared for the name-calling and hatred that would be thrown his way. At the time, Naruto laughed it all off and gave them one of his 'Uzumaki Naruto' smiles. Asuma and Yamato seemed a little comforted by his attitude, but they still kept a close eye on him in the beginning. Once his and Kakashi's relationship proved to last, the duo became good friends with Naruto. Of course, a lot of that probably was to appease their strange protectiveness of a woman that didn't want to be protected.

"You're thinking awfully hard right now. Don't hurt yourself, I wanna go again later."

Snapping instantly out of his thoughts, Naruto looked down at the warm body against his chest and grinned roguishly at her.

"Again? You're insatiable."

Kakashi rolled over and crawled nearly on top of him with one leg hooked around his legs and her head resting right above his beating heart.

"Perhaps, but we might as well have as much fun as we can now. I've got a long-term mission in a few days."

Naruto scrunched his nose up in distaste as he brought one of his fingers up to trace a faint pattern on her scar littered back. "Define long-term."

"Three months of heavy espionage."

"Eww."

Kakashi snorted in laughter before rolling off of him and returning to her original position against his chest.

"Eww is right. I swear going back and forth between forms is draining my energy."

Naruto cocked an eyebrow at his lover as he gently nestled against her shoulder. "Why not choose a form and stick to it then?"

Kakashi's shoulders shook with laughter as she shook her head. "That would solve nothing. In fact, it would do nothing but cause problems."

Sensing an opening, Naruto finally asked the one thing he'd been wondering since the first day he found out about his cross-dressing teacher.

"Would it be so bad if everyone found out you were female?"

Kakashi sighed as she rolled over and looked up into those bright blue eyes. She really did not want to have this conversation with Naruto. It was a long overdue conversation, but not something she'd choose for pillow talk. "Yes. Everything would change."

Naruto moved the silver hair away from her neck to rest his chin there. The man loved her neck. He could mark it all he wanted and no one would ever know because of that infuriating, yet handy, mask. Pressing a soft kiss right below her ear Naruto nuzzled his face into her neck, breathing in the distinct scent of Kakashi. "Change isn't all that bad. You wouldn't have to hide this beautiful body anymore."

Kakashi snorted as she pushed Naruto away from her and sat up with the sheet wrapped around her body. "Naruto, I've been doing this for years without anybody finding out. For all Konoha knows I have a dick and that's how it will stay."

The blond haired man groaned at the bluntness of his lover. "Well, at least your personality is the same, dick or not."

Kakashi grinned at the man in her bed as she moved to get out of the bed and pull on a shirt. The bedroom was warm from their body heat, but it wouldn't be long before the air conditioner kicked on and chilled the room. Naruto pouted as she moved away from him. He quickly grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back against him. Sighing heavily, Kakashi molded back to his side, not before rolling over to face Naruto. Something told the silver haired woman that they were fixing to have one of those relationship changing conversations. She also had a feeling this conversation was going to completely kill the rest of her sated buzz.

Naruto was strangely quiet as he brought up his finger to twirl it around a lock of her hair. The longer hair irritated Kakashi to no end, but Naruto loved it. She tugged his finger out of her hair before smoothing the lock out. Naruto simply rolled his eyes at her action and picked up another strand. He looked so peaceful as he leaned forward and sweetly rested his forehead against hers.

"What would my Dad say?"

Kakashi made a strange sound in the back of her throat as she looked away from Naruto. "That's a low blow, Naruto."

Naruto ignored her and sat up, leaving her to shift back to lean against her elbows. "It is and I'm sorry, but if he was the man I think he was then he'd want you to accept yourself for who you really are. He wouldn't want you to hide yourself anymore."

"Naruto, we're not having this conversation."

Kakashi made a move to get out of the bed, but Naruto grabbed her wrist. The hiss Kakashi emitted after her burns were twisted by the grip made Naruto flinch. "Just hear me out. We have to have this conversation sometime."

The silver haired woman sighed deeply as she leaned back against the headboard and massaged her temples with tensed fingers. "Fine. We'll have this conversation, but know this, you're killing my buzz over here."

Naruto dared to chuckle, it earned him a heated glare, but he really didn't care. It was funny. Only Kakashi would worry more about killing her afterglow while beginning potentially the most serious conversation of their one year relationship.

"You're the strongest ninja in the entire village, regardless of your sex, so why does having everyone know about your true gender bother you so much?"

"Long story short, I'd rather not be looked at as nothing more than a sex object. I actually worked hard to achieve the reputation I did."

Naruto resisted the urge to hit himself in the face at his lover's words. "No one is going to look at you like a sex object! They fear you too much."

"That fear turns right into laughter whenever they realize I've been masquerading as a man this entire time."

"Kakashi, that's stupid."

Kakashi raised a silver eyebrow at Naruto as a stubborn smirk appeared on her uncovered face. It looked really menacing with her left eye closed. "You're forgetting who we're dealing with, Naruto. We're talking about the people of Konoha. They have a reputation of not accepting the unusual or are you forgetting about your furry pain-in-the-neck?"

Kakashi felt bad whenever she saw Naruto flinch.

"I deserved that, but your case is different from mine. I know they'll accept you easily."

Kakashi sighed deeply before throwing an arm over her eyes, giving Naruto the perfect opportunity to crawl over to her and rest his head against her chest.

"Just listen for a little while longer. If you do decide to stay in one form, hopefully this one, remember that you're not going to be alone. I'll be right there beside you, as will Asuma and Yamato. Plus, whoever else you've got up that sleeve of yours."

From his position, Naruto could see the slight grin on her face. "Yugao."

"Huh?"

"Uzuki Yugao is the other person I've been keeping from you."

"Isn't that the purple haired ANBU chick?"

Kakashi nodded as she moved her arm down to play in Naruto's sweat dampened hair. "She's what you would call my only 'girlfriend.' Your mom gave me the finer details about being female while Yugao refined those details. Those three, including you and Gai, are the only ones alive that know."

Naruto blinked in shock. "Baa-chan doesn't know?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Not that I know of. The Third knew because he collaborated on the original seal with my father and once more when Sensei strengthened and modified the seal, but Tsunade hasn't made any mention of it to me, so I can't be sure if she knows or not. The information is probably buried deep in the archives, so it would take years to find it and that's if you were looking for it."

"Are you going to bring it to her attention?"

"I would be lying if I said yes."

Naruto rolled his eyes as he rolled off of Kakashi and leaned on one elbow to look up at the woman lounging against the headboard. He twitched gently as he tried to keep the tougher questions on the tip of his tongue. Kakashi liked her privacy, especially concerning her childhood. Yeah, she felt comfortable enough with Naruto to talk about Yugao and other little things like that, but she still hadn't offered up any information about her past before Team Seven. Hell, Naruto didn't even know where she got her Sharingan from.

Naruto wanted so badly to question why Kakashi spent her entire life masquerading as a man. Naruto tried not to look too eager as he squirmed against the sheets as curiosity settled in his stomach. As open as Kakashi was about some things, her past was still one huge secret. Kakashi snorted in laughter as she scooted down the bed to lie fully on her back. She lazily lifted her arms above her head to stretch out the kinks in her muscles. She knew this conversation had to happen so she was damn well going to make sure she was comfortable before the even heavier questions started.

"Go on and ask. You know you want to."

"You've never told me why you were put under a henge as an infant."

Kakashi untangled herself from the sheets to reach into the bedside drawer to pull out a picture. She handed it to Naruto and waited for his reaction. The glossy picture showed a family of three, two adults and a newborn child, smiling happily in a dark room. The silver haired father stood proudly beside his family while the black haired mother sat in a bed with the baby swaddled in a green blanket. From the picture Naruto couldn't tell if the baby was male or female.

Naruto looked up and noticed the slight pink around Kakashi's cheeks. He grinned widely as he stroked the picture with a finger. "This is you?" Kakashi nodded as Naruto practically gushed over the picture. "You were so cute!"

Kakashi reached over and smacked Naruto in the back of the head. "Baka!"

Naruto laughed loudly as he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head. "Jeez, chill woman, you're going to give me a concussion."

The silver haired female snatched the picture from Naruto and stashed it back into the bedside table. "You have a hard head, you'll survive."

Naruto watched Kakashi hide the picture with a sad look in his eyes. Ignoring his nakedness, he wrapped one arm around her waist and one underneath her legs to pull her into his lap. For a minute Kakashi tensed in his arms and fought against him. She really didn't like to be manhandled. When he finally got her settled between his legs, he lovingly massaged her lower back, wanting her to be as relaxed as possible for the question he was about to ask.

"Tell me, what started all of this?"

A long, tired sigh erupted from Kakashi's pale, well-bitten lips as she leaned back against his chest. "It's a long story."

Naruto shrugged. "I waited months for you to agree to a relationship with me and even longer for you to get used to me constantly touching you. I have patience, sweetheart."

A single dark eye rolled at the pet name. "Don't call me sweetheart. Until you can beat me in an actual spar, you're not allowed to call me sweetheart."

The corners of Naruto's lips twitched as he snorted in laughter. "Allowed? I thought I was supposed to be the arrogant one."

"Nah, you're just cocky and impulsive. I've actually got skill to back up my boasts."

"Hey! I've got skill!" Naruto took a deep breath and tried to get back on subject. He knew exactly what the genius was doing. "Stop distracting me and trying to change the subject!"

Kakashi rubbed her eye tiredly. "My parents were both elite shinobi with many enemies. When my parents found out they were going to have a child they went through every single precaution they could to prevent anyone from finding out. Everything was fine in the beginning. I was born and my mom started regaining her strength. Unfortunately, one of the nurses that assisted with my birth sold my parents out to some of their enemies."

The blond haired man gasped in shock as he comfortingly squeezed his lover's hand.

"About a week after I was born she was kidnapped. They kept her for three weeks, raped and humiliated her repeatedly before finally killing her. Dad and his dogs found her mutilated body in the middle of one of their abandoned camps. Losing her ruined him, or so I was told years later. In his grief, he feared that I would share a similar fate. So he designed the seal and placed it on me with the help of the Sandaime. Somewhere in his grief riddled mind he figured me being male would make me less of a target for their remaining enemies."

Naruto lowered his eyes as he pulled his woman close to him and kissed the back of her shoulder. "Your dad did what he thought was best."

"Perhaps, but sometimes I think he could have chosen another option."

The room was awkwardly silent as Naruto maneuvered himself off of the bed. They had talked too much, too soon about emotionally crippling things. The blond hoped he hadn't completely ruined things with his insistent questions. His fears were vanquished, though, when Kakashi playfully threw a pillow at his uncovered behind before falling back to lie in the middle of the bed. Naruto leaned over and pulled on her arm, keeping his fingers away from the cuts littered there. "Come shower with me."

"Nah, I'm good here."

Naruto's nose twitched as he stood back up, inhaling deeply. "You smell like me, maybe you shouldn't shower for a few days."

The grey eye mockingly rolled at the man walking towards the bathroom door. "Maybe I do need to take a shower if I smell that bad."

Naruto stopped and glared at the woman in the bed who was trying her hardest to muffle her laughter with a pillow. "Ha Ha. That was so funny."

"I was kidding you knucklehead. Take a shower and I'm going to take a nap."

* * *

Naruto moaned happily as hot water ran down his back, making the scratches running along there sting slightly. Kakashi knew exactly how to play him and what made him tick, the knowledge that she knew him so well made him love her even more. Despite the fact that she was nearing her thirty-fifth birthday, he wanted to grow old with her, have children with her, love her outside of the bedroom, but a huge wrench was thrown into his dream plans. Kakashi had lived every day, save for about a month, of her life as a male.

She wouldn't have even known she was really female if it hadn't have been for his dad forcibly dropping her henge shortly after her father died. Kakashi rarely spoke about her childhood or anything from before she met Naruto as a child, but Naruto knew the basics of what happened. Hatake Sakumo was disgraced after he abandoned a mission to save his comrades. Naruto considered the man a hero for doing that, but apparently his failure cost the village and they turned on him. The man eventually took his own life, leaving Namikaze Minato with the job of training Kakashi. Apparently his father thought it best to drop her henge and let her completely start over. Naruto could only imagine the pure torture Kakashi was put through as a seven-year-old having to find out everything she knew was a lie. It was a miracle the female hadn't already entered a mental institute. Hell, it was a miracle that she and Naruto could even have a semi-healthy relationship.

From the little Kakashi mentioned about the experience, Naruto could tell that the incident hadn't gone as well as Minato hoped it would. Whatever happened caused Kakashi to strongly dislike her true gender and decide it would be better for her to live her life as male. A decision Minato fought every step of the way. To this day Kakashi moaned and groaned about the horrendous training he put her through, both in male and female forms so she wouldn't be handicapped if her henge was to suddenly drop.

Female Kakashi was just as kickass as male Kakashi, but the woman just couldn't see that. It made being in a relationship with her all the more frustrating.

Naruto himself couldn't believe their relationship had taken the turn it did. Just a short year-and-a-half ago Naruto would have laughed hysterically at the thought of his onetime sensei being anything but male. A well aimed jutsu to Kakashi's stomach and a slightly hysterical Naruto mistakenly pumping chakra into the seal in hopes of healing the injury was enough to short-circuit the intricate seal and reveal the silver haired beauty below. Since, at the time, they were alone on a B-ranked escort mission, Kakashi came to long enough to beg Naruto to hide her 'til she could repair the seal.

Now that was an interesting two months.

They spent nearly every day hiding from scouting teams and enemy ninjas just so Kakashi could gather enough time to fix the seal. Kakashi spent the first month hiding from Naruto and barking orders from behind a makeshift curtain in an underground cave they found. It wasn't until Naruto got fed up and barged past the curtain only to catch Kakashi in just a pair of shorts and a training bra that the fact that Kakashi was female truly hit him. The slightly perverted part of Naruto's brain also couldn't help but point out that the night after seeing Kakashi like that was the night he had his first erotic dream about the silver haired woman. Shaking his head underneath the water a final time Naruto shut off the spray and stepped out of the shower only to see Kakashi leaning against the sink wearing her pair of men's boxers and a loose shirt.

"I thought you were going to take a nap?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't fall asleep."

He nodded as he pointed to the towel along the rack. He understood completely. His mind was also racing with thoughts too. "Hand me a towel, babe."

Kakashi rolled her eye as she grabbed the towel and threw it at the blond haired man. She really didn't care for the pet names Naruto would use, but she didn't stop him. A tiny part of her liked hearing the playful banter, it was so comfortable that she could almost forget the outside world. "Didn't use all the hot water did you?"

Naruto grinned as he furiously rubbed at his hair with the towel. "Tried not to. Want me to help you? I can scrub your back."

The woman snorted as she grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over the top of her head. Naruto really admired her lack of decency. He figured showing off her torso really didn't bother her because as a male it wasn't considered indecent to walk around bare-chested. Naruto loved the little quirk, well, more like he loved the little show he got every time she got it in her mind to unknowingly strip for him.

"I think I can manage, _dear_."

After Kakashi pulled the boxers down her long legs, Naruto watched lazily as she ran herself a hot bath. Her cheeks tinged pink as she became overly aware of his eyes on her. Once the water was at the right level and temperature, Kakashi dipped her body into the heat and sighed happily. Naruto wrapped his towel around his hips before walking over and balancing himself on the edge of the bathtub. He ran his fingers through Kakashi's slightly damp hair.

"Kashi?"

"Hmm?"

"What happened with Gai this time? I know I freaked out earlier, I'm really sorry about that by the way, but I do want to hear the truth." Kakashi sighed as she dipped down deeper into the water 'til her nose rested right above the waterline. Naruto snorted in laughter as he reached down and lifted her chin up with a finger. "Please Kaka-sensei?"

She rolled her eye once more before scooting forward in the tub and pointing to her back. "If we're going to have this conversation while I'm in the bathtub, then you might as well scrub my back."

Naruto was practically giddy as he dropped his towel and climbed into the tub behind her. With a sudsy rag he firmly rubbed her back as she began to talk about Gai's involvement in her wounds.

"It was just another stupid challenged Naruto, nothing more, nothing less."

"Why don't you tell him no? You're stronger than him, it's not like he can coerce you into the challenges."

Kakashi turned around to meet Naruto's eyes and shook her head. "He knows about me. He knows my secret and he's holding that over my head. The one time I don't agree to a challenge is going to be when he breaks the henge."

"And that's a bad thing how?"

Kakashi breathed deeply as she tried to keep her chakra even and free of anger. "If he drops my henge, he'll most likely do it in a very public place. I've worked too damn hard to be considered a formidable opponent to have it all crashing down around my head in less than five seconds."

Naruto tiredly rubbed a hand across his eyes. "Kakashi, look at Tsunade and Sakura, they're kunoichi and strong."

"They're also medical ninjas. Honestly Naruto, have you ever seen a serious female assassin that didn't have to resort to sleeping with or seducing their victims? I've lived as a male for most of my life so I know the male chauvinistic attitude most shinobi carry. I was taught to carry the same one by previous male superiors. The moment everyone finds out that I am female all of that respect will disappear. The Council would get directly to finding me a suitable husband so I can crank out little ninja babies. They're already trying to get a semen sample."

Naruto tried not to laugh as he buried his face into his hands. "What about Yugao? She's in ANBU."

Kakashi sighed as she moved further away from Naruto's warmth. "She's good at weaponry, yes, but she'll never grow because of her personal vendetta to find the murderer of her lover."

"An avenger, just like Sasuke?"

Kakashi nodded as she swirled her fingertips around the surface of the water, creating little ripples. "Exactly, and we both saw how that turned out."

Images of Sasuke being executed for crimes against the shinobi world flashed before Naruto's eyes. He self-consciously pulled Kakashi closer to himself. His biggest failure still stung despite the three years that passed since the Uchiha clan was eliminated. Under Tsunade's orders, the Sharingan would be lost to the world forever, ridding the world of the horrors it imposed. Naruto forced himself back to the matter at hand.

"Anko?"

Kakashi actually groaned as she leaned back against Naruto. "Not a good example. She gives all women a bad name simply because she walks around like a hooker and won't stop pinching my behind."

Teasingly, Naruto needled Kakashi. "I don't know, maybe you're jealous of her."

Kakashi scoffed loudly. "Me? Jealous of her? No way in Hell."

"No, no, I think you are! She's female and she's feared. Everything you want to be."

Kakashi quickly turned around and growled at her lover. "She's feared because she's crazy. At least I'm not legally insane despite what most people believe."

Naruto snorted in laughter as Kakashi glared at the opposite wall.

"You did that on purpose didn't you?"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. It's cute whenever you react naturally. Okay, in all seriousness, what about Kurenai?"

"Genjutsu is technically considered a woman's field."

Naruto sighed as he overdramatically flopped back against the tub. "You're killing me here, Kakashi!"

Kakashi shrugged as she grabbed the rag from Naruto and cleaned underneath her fingernails. "I only speak the truth."

"No, you're just looking at the negative in order to suit your own beliefs. There are plenty of strong kunoichi and you would be just as strong if everyone found out that you were female. You're Hatake Kakashi, master of a thousand jutsu. No one is going to cross you."

Kakashi sighed as she quickly got out of the bathtub and pulled a towel around her body. "You just hit the nail on the head, Naruto. Master of a thousand jutsu, not mistress."

"Dammit Kakashi! It's not like I'll let anyone do anything to you."

The silver haired woman's head snapped around quickly as she glared harshly at the man lounging in her bathtub.

"I'm not some weak female that needs her boyfriend to protect her. I'm a jounin. I don't need your help, Naruto."

Sensing her anger, Naruto held up his hands in defense. "Okay, okay. Calm down. I know you don't need me or anyone to protect you, but you can't keep hiding like this. It isn't healthy."

"I've been doing it for thirty-five-years and it hasn't killed me yet."

Naruto stood up from the cooling water and stepped out of the bath only to plaster himself against her back. "What if I want children?"

Kakashi tensed before she removed herself from his arms. In a cold voice she usually only reserved for her enemies, Kakashi walked towards the door, never looking back at Naruto.

"Who said I will ever have children with you?"

Naruto knew he should have flinched at the coldness in her voice, but he also knew that Kakashi was only trying to push him away so he would drop the subject. Reaching down to pick up his previously discarded towel, he followed Kakashi's chakra back into her bedroom.

* * *

"Brat, you smell like the other brat."

"That's what happens whenever you fuck, Pakkun."

The little brown pug scrunched his muzzle up at the vulgar word his mistress uttered. "I thought females were supposed to be the fairer sex."

"Do you want to go hungry?"

"No, ma'am!"

Naruto entered the bedroom to see Pakkun resting on the bed and Kakashi hurriedly dressing with her back to him. Pakkun took one look at him and growled menacingly.

"Brat! What did you do to her? She's usually only like this during her cycle and I know for a fact that it isn't tonight."

Kakashi sighed loudly as she tossed her hairbrush at Pakkun, who dodged it easily. "Pakkun, haven't we talked about personal information and when to close your muzzle about it? I'd rather not discuss my cycles with Naruto."

Naruto found himself blushing as he scratched his cheek and hurriedly asked another question he'd been wondering for a while now. "So you do have them?"

The silver haired woman blinked as she turned around and finished buttoning up her shirt. "Have a menstrual cycle? Yes, why wouldn't I?"

Naruto shrugged as he reached into the dresser and pulled out his extra set of clothes to pull on. "I know this is embarrassing, but what happens whenever you're under your henge?"

The silver haired woman shrugged as she pulled up her shirt and traced the darker portion of the seal, right above where her female reproductive organs would be. "Whenever Sensei and the Sandaime strengthened the seal they had to keep in mind that the seal would suppress puberty if they didn't work it correctly. Sensei fully believed I would one day decide to live without my henge, so he wanted me to be able to live as a normal woman."

The grin across Naruto's face was lecherous enough to make Kakashi blush if she hadn't already become immune to them. He quickly walked over to cup his second favorite part of the silver haired woman in his hands. "So, I have my Dad to thank for allowing these beauties to grow."

Kakashi didn't even have to push Naruto away this time because Pakkun launched himself off the bed and sunk his teeth into the muscular backside. The next few minutes were filled with Naruto running around the room trying his hardest to get Pakkun to let go of his ass. Kakashi chuckled at the scene before whistling softly. Pakkun instantly unhinged his mouth and dropped to the floor.

Pakkun strutted over to his mistress before hopping up into her outstretched arms. Kakashi scratched the little pug behind the ears as she quietly admonished him for biting her boyfriend. "Now Pakkun, you know he likes to play like that. There was no reason for you to bite him, especially not when I can handle myself."

The pug growled once more at the whimpering blond trying not to sit on his abused backside. "He knows better than to grope you in my presence. We've already had this discussion."

Kakashi sighed before dismissing Pakkun and going over to see about Naruto. Gently, she reached over to ghost a hand over the bite marks. They were deep, but already healing. She knew the only reason Pakkun attacked Naruto like that was because he knew the male would heal quickly thanks to his furry tenant. "You okay?"

Naruto looked up and gave her a winning smile as he nodded. "I should have known better then that. It's fine, already healing. Now, continue with what you were saying before my embarrassing distraction."

"So he wanted me to be able to live as a normal woman, and be able to have children and all that jazz. The seal allows my body to produce the female hormones while I'm in my henge, but I don't shed the lining of my uterus nor do I ovulate 'til I drop my henge."

With his backside now healed, Naruto sat up and tilted his head to the side as he watched Kakashi pull on her hitai-ate. "What happens if you just don't drop the henge?"

"My ovaries could burst."

"Seriously?"

Kakashi nodded as she started rolling down her shirt. "It's really not that bad. Sensei manipulated the seal to speed up my cycle where it only lasts one night. It's extremely painful and uncomfortable, but it's better than explaining why I'm buying tampons to a salesclerk."

Naruto snorted in laughter as he finally dug up the will to finish getting dressed. For now he would just ignore the little holes in the back of his pants. As Kakashi finished dressing and stood at her bedroom door, Naruto sensed the change in the room. It always happened like this. As much as Kakashi wanted to stay in her male form for her ninja career, she really didn't like leaving her little world behind those doors. Naruto stood up and gave his beautiful, uterus bearing Kakashi one last kiss before she was replaced with the ominous, male Kakashi.

"Want me to make breakfast before we go spar?"

Naruto nodded, keeping his comments to himself as he finished pulling his hitai-ate on. It wasn't 'til Kakashi closed the door that Naruto sighed out his comments into the room.

"Yeah, but can you do it in your female form?"

* * *

**Later that day...**

* * *

Gai's black eyes narrowed in disgust as he watched Kakashi and Naruto spar. They were both excellent shinobi and just from watching them it was obvious that they were talented. Gai's mind hissed in disgust at the thought, 'good talent wasted on a bitch.' Kakashi stopped mid-fight to look in his direction allowing Naruto to get a hit in. The knowledge that she knew he was there sent a delightfully naughty shiver down his spine. He wanted nothing more than to show himself to her, but he knew he wasn't on Naruto's 'good' list right now. The brat would probably kill him if he saw him nosing around their training ground. He was awfully protective of his bitch.

Truthfully, Gai hadn't always felt this way about his eternal rival. At one point, Kakashi was his best friend and closer to him than any of the other shinobi. That was all 'til Kakashi revealed her dirty little secret to him the year she turned seven, right after her father died.

_Flashback_

_"Remember Gai, women are only good for two things. Cooking and fucking. Isn't that right, cupcake?" Gai's bruised mother nodded and sniffled softly. A loud crack thundered around the room as Gai's father hit his wife across the face. "You speak whenever I speak to you! Now, isn't that right, cupcake?"_

_She sobbed loudly, yet somehow managed to squeak out a 'yes.' The black haired man grinned as he reached over and stroked her bruised cheek. "Black and blue is such a pretty color on you." He gripped her hair and pulled her up from her spot kneeling beside him on the floor. "Watch carefully Gai, if you play your cards right, one day you'll find a woman to bend to your will."_

_Gai's eyes took in his mother as his father forced her to her feet and pushed her to the kitchen sink. From the soft crying from his mother Gai realized his place in the world. The men were truly strong and that's the way it would be. Women were worth nothing._

_"Remember, Gai, never let the others know about this. Konoha isn't ready for our ideas, but one day, one day we'll be able to openly practice what men in our family have been taught for centuries." His father broke into a chorus of cursing as his mother dropped a glass and earned herself another slap to the face._

_His mother dropped to the floor crying and curled in on herself as his father told him to head off to practice. Gai left the dark kitchen and walked outside the door with the stupid green jumpsuit and a goofy smile. Screaming about youth and love only further cemented his perfect mask, but even he couldn't stop himself from hissing in disgust whenever he saw kunoichi taking the jobs men should have. His father bellowed constantly about the uppity bitches, their snotty attitudes, and how he'd like to knock them down a peg or two._

_The only bright spot in his life was visiting with his self-proclaimed eternal rival, Hatake Kakashi. One day Gai hoped he could share his families' values with his best friend, it was only fitting they rule their women together. The black haired boy quickly found his silver haired friend sitting on a swing in the middle of an abandoned park._

_"Kakashi!"_

_Kakashi looked up and gave Gai his patented upturned eye smile. "Gai!"_

_"How are you doing, rival?" Gai knew his rival's father had taken his own life just a few short weeks ago and he truly did worry for his friend._

_"I'm fine, Gai. Well, I'm doing as well as expected."_

_Gai nodded and he held out a hand for Kakashi. "Come on, let's go train. It'll take your mind off of everything."_

_Kakashi chuckled as he jumped from the swing and shook his head. "Gai, you're only an Academy student, I'm a Chunin. It would look bad for me if I beat up an Academy student."_

_Gai thrust his finger out and puffed his chest out. "I would not lose!"_

_Kakashi fully laughed before growing suddenly serious. "Gai, you're my friend right?"_

_Gai nodded quickly._

_"Then I can trust you right?"_

_Once more, Gai nodded._

_"Okay. Then I've got something to show you." In three short hand seals, Kakashi dropped her henge for the first time, in hopes that her first friend would accept her for who she was._

_Gai froze in shock as the silver haired little boy suddenly grew long silver hair. He was really a she. His talented friend, the one Gai strove to be like, was nothing more than a woman? The black haired boy felt his entire being tremble in anger. All of that talent wasted on Kakashi._

_The silver haired girl waited for Gai to speak and was stunned when the boy wildly attacked. She blocked his punches and kicks long enough to throw him to the ground, but she couldn't block out the derogatory words and sentences coming from her onetime friend's mouth. Gai managed to catch her distracted long enough to flip their positions with him resting on her. He continued with the same spew his father used nightly to his mother and gleefully watched as tears welled up in Kakashi's eyes. Of course, those tears never fell. Kakashi snapped back into action quick enough to push Gai off of her and pull her henge back up._

_Kakashi raced away from the park just as Gai pointed his finger after her and made the promise of a lifetime._

_"From here on out, I'll find a way to destroy you!"_

_Flashback end_

Since that day at the park, Gai waited for the moment when he would crush Kakashi's world. Of course, his threats didn't scare Kakashi at all. The female always managed to turn his threat back on him and outclass him constantly. It was downright maddening. People thought their challenges were just for fun, but they weren't. Kakashi knew that the moment she disagreed to a challenge was the moment he revealed to the world her dirty little secret.

"Gai."

The black haired shinobi turned around to meet a lazy grey eye and two fiery blue ones. Gai could tell from the seemingly relaxed, but firm grip on Naruto's forearm that she didn't want him far from her side. He had to hand it to her, she fought her own battles. "Kakashi."

"Is there anything you need, Gai?"

Gai gave Kakashi his best 'good guy' grin as he slipped right into his patented mask. "I'd like the chance to even the score with another challenge!"

Naruto growled, at least 'til Kakashi squeezed his forearm. "We've already had one challenge today, Gai, but I supposed we can have another. My choice I do believe." Gai nodded in agreement as he waited for Kakashi's decision. "A game of rock, paper, scissors?"

The bowl cut man twitched at the choice. Obviously the gods shined down upon Kakashi, because she never lost a game of luck. With a tight lip, Gai agreed to the game and readied his hand.

"One"

"Two"

"Three"

"Draw"

Gai twitched as Kakashi's paper covered his rock. "You win, rival! I'll do a thousand squats to prepare myself for our next challenge."

Kakashi simply waved him off. "Whatever you say, Gai."

Watching Kakashi leave the training ground made Gai's blood boil. One day he would get to carry out his plan, it was only a matter of time.

* * *

Naruto shook with anger as he turned around to watch Gai disappear into the thick forest surrounding the training ground. Kakashi's hand on his forearm did nothing to curb his anger. "Calm down, Naru-chan. You're doing nothing but proving he's winning."

"Just let me hit him one time, Kakashi, and it'll make me feel so much better."

Kakashi sighed as she pulled out her favorite orange book. "That wouldn't work Naruto. You'd get reported for attacking a superior officer without cause. You forget Naruto that all of Konoha believes Gai to be this fun-loving, gentleman, when really he's nothing but one huge misogynist. The women of Konoha have kind of picked up on it, but the men would just claim you attacked him for no reason."

Confusion lit up Naruto's face as he scrunched his nose up in concentration. "Misogynist?"

Kakashi chuckled as she turned a page of her book. "Misogyny is a hatred of women. Surely you've noticed it with Tenten?"

Naruto shook his head with that same confused look in his eyes. "She's just so tomboyish that I don't even think of her as female."

Another page was flipped as Kakashi hummed in agreement. "Tenten learned early on that if she acted too girly, Gai wouldn't train her. You know that Gai and I have a history together; we've both fooled Konoha for nearly thirty years with our happy, friendly relationship. When I found out he was receiving a kunoichi on his team I started watching them train. My team didn't pass and the Third had already banned me from reentering ANBU, so I watched Tenten struggle to find Gai's acceptance."

Naruto clenched his fists together. "That's horrible. Why didn't I notice this earlier?"

"Gai's good at covering his tracks. He's a great actor, but every once in a while he'll slip up. Kurenai's noticed it too. He has a bad problem of blatantly ignoring women. Whenever the senseis have to get together for meetings he'd ignore any suggestion she had and sometimes would shoot them down with his sarcastic words of youth."

"Hasn't Baa-chan noticed? She technically is female."

Kakashi looked up and slowly shook her head. "Gai never meets with Tsunade-sama. He always sends Lee or Neji."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he realized Kakashi was right, he had never seen Gai in his Baa-chan's office. "She'd kick his ass if she ever found out why he does that. It just makes me so angry Kakashi. I know kunoichi that could kick my ass and his with one hand tied behind their backs."

Kakashi shrugged as she pocketed her Icha Icha novel. "Enough of this. We're getting close to town and shouldn't discuss this in public."

Naruto unwillingly nodded before shyly intertwining his fingers with Kakashi's gloved ones. "Sure. Hey, can we go to Ichiraku for lunch?"

"You've got to start eating more than just ramen. Try a fruit every once in a while."

The blond haired man simply tugged Kakashi's hand as he ran forward. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you! The sound of beautiful ramen calling my name distracted me."

Kakashi let herself be tugged forward towards the ramen bar, secretly smiling at the childlike excitement Naruto emitted like a beacon whenever ramen was mentioned.

* * *

**Two days later**

* * *

They were in the middle of a much deserved round of love making when the sudden banging on the bedroom door stopped Kakashi cold as she blinked back at the offending sound. She knew exactly who it would be. Only a handful of people knew the correct combination to get into her house, but it was better safe than sorry. In a masculine voice, she spoke out. "Who's there?"

"It's us, Kakashi!"

Kakashi rolled her eye as she dropped the masculine voice as she recognized the person outside her door. "Yugao? Why are you guys here?"

"You're going on a long-term mission tomorrow, surely you haven't forgotten about our long-term mission tradition? Dinner at the person's apartment?"

"Ahh, I did forget. I'll be right out."

Another voice filtered through the door, this one masculine and so familiar from hours of training with the man in controlling the Kyuubi's chakra. "Naruto-kun must be with her."

Kakashi snickered before putting the sound barrier back up and looking down at her obviously frustrated lover. "I guess Naru-kun is annoyed?"

He simply rowled before tackling her to the floor.

* * *

Thirty minutes, a very kinky shower later, Naruto and Kakashi both emerged from her bedroom. For once, she actually kept her henge down. With all of their combined privacy seals, she felt comfortable enough to walk around in her female form. Plus, Yugao would have bodily harmed her if she even thought about wearing a fake sex when she didn't have to. The purple haired woman barely tolerated the mask.

"Did we interrupt something, Naruto-kun?"

The blond haired man glared daggers at the purpled haired kunoichi. He would have killed her and the others if Kakashi wouldn't have finished what they started. Denying a man his release was possibly the dirtiest thing a woman could ever do, or so Naruto believed.

Asuma chuckled as he lit his cigarette and took a long drag from it. "Where's the mission, Kakashi?"

The silver haired woman sat down in one of the remaining chairs around her kitchen table and shrugged. "Can't tell you, it's classified."

"I'll just find out later."

"Rules are rules, Asuma."

Asuma stared daringly at Kakashi as he tried to get her to give him the information he needed about her mission, but the silver haired woman wasn't giving it up. She was just as stubborn now as she was when she was younger.

The older man was possibly Kakashi's oldest and closest friend. Sarutobi Hiruzen took a liking to Kakashi after sealing her as an infant and he made sure to create the little-girl-turned-boy a lifelong friend in his son. Secretly he hoped Asuma would one day convince Kakashi to return to her female form, but that didn't happen, something the aged Hokage regretted at the time of his death.

Asuma had been with Kakashi since before her father died and continued being her friend well after all of her other friends died. Asuma was the one Kakashi went to after Obito died and then again when the Yondaime sacrificed himself. A few years later, it was Asuma who Kakashi went to whenever she decided she needed to rid herself of her virginity. Even when Asuma left after his disagreement with his father, Kakashi was the only one in Konoha he kept in touch with. If things had been different, he probably would be in Naruto's position as Kakashi's lover.

Life wasn't like that, though. They saw each other as friends, not lovers. Their time apart while Kakashi was running in ANBU and he with the daimyo, showed them all too well that they weren't meant for each other. It also didn't help that they were finding their own lovers while apart.

Asuma met Kurenai while he was protecting the daimyo of the Land of Fire. She was Kakashi's exact opposite and that attracted the Sarutobi to her. Not to spite Kakashi, but to distance himself from the silver haired woman. While Asuma was meeting Kurenai, Kakashi was meeting her own first steady lover in ANBU. A young shinobi graced with the First Hokage's genes, a teenager named Tenzo, better known now as Yamato.

Yamato looked over from the stove where he was fixing supper. Out of the five in the kitchen, he was the only one that could cook decently enough. Kakashi simply refused to learn how to make anything more than the basics and Naruto just didn't have the patience. Yugao and Asuma could cook a little bit, but nothing like Yamato. Making wood pop up from random places wasn't his only talent.

Yamato was the second person Kakashi personally told about her true gender. He was also the first person who freaked out so much that he passed out. For a while, the younger man refused to believe his sempai was female. Not because he thought a woman couldn't do everything Kakashi had done, but because he was so used to Kakashi playing little jokes on him that he thought it was just another trick. Boy did he get the surprise of a lifetime whenever the silver haired captain practically jumped him after a particularly good mission.

Their relationship lasted 'til shortly after Pein invaded Konoha. Nearly ten years of fucking around and half-assing a relationship ended with both of them agreeing it was time to move on. Yamato wanted something permanent and Kakashi wasn't willing to give that to Yamato. Hell, she never even let him move in with her. Their relationship was one for ANBU, not for the outside world of Konoha.

"Asuma, Sempai's right. Classified is classified."

Yugao glared deep into Asuma's dark brown eyes causing the man to flinch. He knew better than to cross the purple haired ANBU.

Uzuki Yugao was currently the only female that knew about Kakashi's true gender. Since Kakashi lived with Minato after her father died, Uzumaki Kushina was the one to give Kakashi 'the talk' after the girl had her first menstrual cycle. Kushina became the mother Kakashi needed. Once she died, Kakashi was left without that feminine hand. Hence the reason Jiraiya got her addicted to the Icha Icha series. What he saw as a young teenage boy curious about sex was really a young teenage girl. By the time Yugao got to her, the damage was already done. Hatake Kakashi and Icha Icha were like peanut butter and jelly; you never saw one without the other.

They met while Kakashi was captain of the ANBU team Yugao was assigned too. She wouldn't have even found out about Kakashi's true form if it hadn't been for a badly timed mission that ended in disaster. Both of Yugao's teammates were killed, leaving Kakashi and Yugao to make their way back to Konoha injured and exhausted. Unfortunately, their imprisonment had run over into the appointed day for Kakashi's cycle. Normally Kakashi would make sure she had the day off, but this time it just wasn't possible.

When Yugao's frantic captain started slowing down and shaking, she knew something was wrong. Of course, having Kakashi drag her into the closest shelter he could find and changing into a female version of himself right before her eyes was enough to nearly give the purple haired rookie a heart attack. That shock quickly disappeared as Kakashi crumpled in pain on the dirty floor of the rock structure they had taken shelter in. She spent the night trying to soothe Kakashi's pain and promising her lips were sealed.

"You know better, Sarutobi."

Naruto felt like he was missing something really important, but one look at the suddenly angry feel in Kakashi's chakra told him that he'd find out what was wrong soon enough. "As much as I appreciate the gesture, Asuma, I'd rather you stay out of my missions. I can handle myself."

Asuma shrugged as he flicked his ashes into the ashtray on the kitchen table. "I know that Kakashi, but did you see who your mission partner was?"

Kakashi stilled as Naruto's head whipped around to look at her. She told him that the mission was a solo spy mission. There was no mention of a partner anywhere in their conversation about it a few hours ago. "I thought it was a solo mission?"

The silver haired woman looked at Naruto for just a few seconds before cutting her eyes over to stare at Asuma's glowing cigarette. "It is a solo mission as far as I'm concerned."

Naruto quickly stood up, knocking his chair back as he slammed his hands down on the table. "It's Gai isn't it!"

Kakashi shook her head. "No, Naruto, it's Anko."

The blond jounin blinked rapidly as he sat back down. "Oh. Why is that a bad thing?"

Asuma coughed as Yamato turned with narrowed eyes at Naruto. "Surely you've heard?"

Dumbly, Naruto shook his head as Kakashi reached over and gently rested her hand against his knee. "Don't worry about it Naruto. She's nothing but a nuisance."

"Why is she a problem, though?"

Yugao sighed deeply as she ran a hand through her long purple hair. "Rumor has it that Mitarashi Anko has been drafted by the Council to collect a sample of Hatake Kakashi's sperm. Ya know, for the future of the Hatake clan since he's decided to choose a less than traditional partner."

The blond shook his head in disbelief. "They want Anko to bear your children? Are they crazy? Can you imagine a hormonal Anko running around Konoha? Think about the children! She'd have little monsters!"

Asuma chuckled as he took a long drag of his cigarette. "No Naruto, all they want is a semen sample. So they can impregnate more than one female."

"Phew. I mean, it's bad and all they're trying to do that, but I don't think I could sleep at night knowing someone actually wants Anko to procreate."

Even though it wasn't funny, Kakashi erupted in laughter at the utter relief in Naruto's voice. That one exclamation kept her smiling throughout the entire night and weeks into her mission while Anko chased her, well, Kakashi-kun, around like a bitch in heat.

* * *

**Three months later...**

* * *

"Kakashi-kun, we could go back to my place for a celebratory drink. I've got sake and dango!"

The henged Kakashi shook her head as her eye curled up into a U. "No thanks, Anko. I'm heading home to recover before Naruto comes barging into the apartment."

Anko scoffed in annoyance. "I'm sure I could give you a better time than Naruto. I'm soft everywhere he's hard."

Kakashi resisted the urge to punch the woman trailing behind her. "You're right, Anko, but I like hard things."

The violet haired banish huffed in annoyance as she crossed her arms and tried to bat her eyelashes at Kakashi. The silver haired shinobi really did have to give it to the girl. She's tried everything short of raping her in her sleep to get a sperm sample. Not that she'd get a viable one, technically her equipment down there was just for show. Kakashi really didn't even know if it worked as far as having sex was concerned.

A naughty thought entered Kakashi's mind as she wondered if she would have time to experiment later. An even naughtier thought about playing around with Naruto's Sexy no Jutsu made Kakashi very thankful for the mask covering her cheeks.

With a final glance at Anko, Kakashi gave her a two fingered salute before disappearing from her sight. The silver hared shinobi completely missed her spew of inappropriate curse words at failing her first council appointed mission.

Kakashi reappeared in front of her house and from her bedroom she could feel the faintest spark of her lover's chakra. It wasn't long before Kakashi was inside the house and stripping down inside of the bedroom.

With the henge dropped and Naruto's loose shirt pulled over her body, Kakashi crawled into bed with the sleeping form of Naruto.

The blond haired man woke up a few minutes after Kakashi wrapped an arm around his waist. "Hmmm. 'Kashi?"

"I'm back."

Naruto grinned sleepily as he turned in her arms and brushed a soft kiss against her temple. "How was the mission?"

"Long and annoying. Anko groped and scarred me in ways I may never get over."

Naruto chuckled and he snuggled deeper into the warmth created by Kakashi's extra body heat. "You poor thing. Remind me to replace those horrible memories with more enjoyable memories after I get back from my mission."

Kakashi opened both of her eyes, memorizing the way Naruto looked with his bangs falling in his eyes and her sheets wrapped around his hips. "When do you leave?"

"In about five hours."

The woman nodded as she closed her Sharingan eye and sighed against his neck. "Go back to sleep then."

Naruto nodded as he removed her arm from around his waist and pulled her flush against his chest. His arms wrapped around her waist and tightened before he drifted back off into sleep. Kakashi, though, couldn't settle her mind long enough to sleep. The three months she spent with Anko really worked on her psyche and caused her to think a lot about the way her life turned out.

It's been years since Pein invaded Konoha, but Kakashi still thought about that day a lot. It was not only the day she died, but the day all of Konoha almost found out her secret. If it hadn't been for Asuma and Yugao removing her body, then Choji and Choza would have discovered the suddenly feminine features on their Copy Ninja.

Also, it was the day Kakashi got to see her father again.

Here lately, Kakashi was doing a lot of thinking about her father and family in general. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't contemplating asking Naruto to move in with her. He already practically lived at her apartment and kept clothes there. All they needed to do was remove the few remaining personal items from his apartment and they'd be set. The only problem with that were the little hints Naruto kept throwing out.

That day in the bathroom wasn't the first day Naruto mentioned the dreaded children subject. He wasn't being pushy about it, but Kakashi knew the blond haired man was meant to be a family man. He was too good with children to not have a few of his own. Kakashi, on the other hand, could really care less about the little imps. She barely tolerated her younger subordinates. She just wouldn't know how to handle a toddler and she had a sneaking suspicion that any child she had would be just as annoying and stubborn as she was as a child.

Dear God help them all if she and Naruto procreated together. Any child they had would probably bring about a wave of destruction while still looking cute and adorable.

Kakashi smiled as she shifted her legs to intertwine with Naruto's. Despite the joking she was doing, seeing her father again had caused a lot of unwanted thoughts to pop up into her head, thoughts that she really hadn't focused on 'til she decided to give Naruto a try. With Yamato, Kakashi knew she just had a fuck buddy, but with Naruto it was different. When you dated a man that wore his heart on his sleeve and did everything as big as Naruto did, it was hard not to fall for him.

Naruto's arms tightened around her waist as her thoughts turned towards the last conversation she had with her father. Sitting at that campfire had been an intense experience. She had every right to be furious at him, but seeing him there huddled in on himself melted that anger right out of Kakashi. It hadn't taken long for Kakashi to realize that her father loved her so much that he never wanted her to feel the same pain his wife did. Granted, he went about it the wrong way, but his intentions were pure.

"I thought you were supposed to be sleeping?"

Kakashi blinked as she looked up at the sleepy looking Naruto. "Did I wake you?"

He shook his head as he released her waist and stretched to work out the kinks. "No, I always wake up an hour or two before I leave for a mission. Now, why haven't you fallen asleep yet? I figured you would have been exhausted after having to spend your nights keeping Anko from raping you."

The silver haired woman snorted in laughter as she moved off of Naruto to lie beside him. "I was just doing some thinking."

"About what?"

Kakashi shrugged before rubbing a hand across her eyes. "Just about life."

"Oh. Well, if you want to talk to me then I'm all ears."

Naruto waited for her to say something, but she remained silent, at least for the first few seconds. "Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Why were you already at my apartment?"

"I practically live here already and I wanted to still feel close to you while were gone, so I've been sleeping here. It's stupid, but I miss you when you're not here." He blushed heavily as Kakashi chuckled lightly. "Shut-up! Don't act like you don't sleep in one of my shirts while I'm gone."

Kakashi's laughter suddenly stopped as she sat up and took a deep breath. "Well, why not move in with me." Naruto blinked before reaching over and pinching his own arm 'til he yelped. "What are you doing?"

Sheepishly, Naruto grinned at Kakashi while rubbing at the sore spot on his arm. "I wanted to make sure I wasn't dreaming."

The silver haired woman cocked an eyebrow at Naruto before rolling her eye. "Baka. So, is that a yes or a no?" Naruto didn't answer her with words instead he pounced on her with the gusto of a puppy. Kakashi squirmed underneath him as his kisses turned from sloppy, exaggerated kisses into lingering, sensual touches. "Naruto, as nice as this is, you have a mission in less than two hours."

Naruto groaned as he pulled away from her and stood up to walk into the bathroom. "Look at you ruining my fun and encouraging me to be on time. Who are you and where is my Kakashi?"

Kakashi grabbed the pillow and tossed it at Naruto, but the man dodged and continued making his way into the bathroom to get ready for his mission. Thirty minutes later he walked out with half of his jounin uniform on, minus the vest, to find Kakashi snoozing against the pillows. The blond haired shinobi smiled slightly as he walked over and pulled the covers up around Kakashi's shoulders. One grey eye popped open and stared uneasily at the sight of her lover in his jounin uniform.

"Be careful Naruto."

"I will Sensei, don't worry."

Before he left, Naruto leaned down and brushed a kiss against Kakashi's lips. He barely managed to shake the feeling of lead that had settled into the pit of his stomach as he looked back at her before taking off into the night.

* * *

Homura and Koharu stood in front of a slightly fuming Anko. She was tired, dirty, and wanted nothing more than to go home and forget Hatake Kakashi ever existed.

"You failed a very important mission, Anko. We need Hatake Kakashi's sperm sample so the clan won't die off. Naruto will never be able to give the man heirs and we all know he would never consider impregnating a woman while with his lover. He's too damn loyal to Naruto."

Anko bowed her head before straightening her spine and cursing loudly into the dark council room. "The man is like a fucking rock. Nothing I did aroused him. I even stripped naked. All I got for my efforts was a 'good night, Anko'."

Koharu scoffed at the spiky haired woman. "He's a gay man, Anko! Of course, the female body isn't going to turn him on. You stupid girl."

Anko hissed at the woman. "Watch it you old bat. He wouldn't even let me touch him. Hell, most the time we were separated trying to accomplish our mission."

Homura crossed his arms and shook his head. "Kakashi's not getting any younger and the longer we wait the greater chance we have that he dies on a mission. Konoha doesn't need to lose the Hatake clan's white chakra. We've already lost the Uchiha clan's Sharingan thanks to Tsunade."

"What do you expect me to do? Drug him and then jack him off in his sleep?"

Identical grins appeared on the two council members faces. "Exactly."

* * *

**One week later...**

* * *

Kakashi barely managed to make it out of bed before noon. Something she hadn't done in a long time. Contrary to popular belief, Hatake Kakashi didn't spend the day sleeping in and being lazy, nor did she spend hours staring at the memorial stone. Yes, she did honor those lost, but she didn't dwell on them. ANBU training from all those years ago trained her body to get up with the sun. Unless she had spent the night before on a mission or indulging in Naruto's kinkier side, she was usually up and moving before dawn. So the sudden need to sleep in was strange, but not unwanted.

With the day off and nothing better to do, Kakashi henged back into her male version and decided to get in some quality reading time. Of course, rereading her favorite series wasn't as enjoyable whenever she could still smell Naruto on her clothes even after an entire week since his departure. It annoyed her to no end that he could bring about such gushy feelings in her normally emotionless heart.

Fighting back a yawn, Kakashi rolled out of bed just as the sun began to sink in the sky. Since she had no food in the house, she eventually decided to head to the ramen house for a quick meal.

Unfortunately, on her way to the ramen house, she ran into Anko.

"Oi! Kakashi! Come here."

A part of Kakashi really didn't want to go anywhere near Anko. There was just something in her eyes that the silver haired Hatake didn't like.

"Yo, Anko. Need something?"

Anko nodded quickly before latching herself onto Kakashi's arm. "I want to invite you to eat ramen with me."

Kakashi shrugged the woman off. "Anko, I'm flattered, but no."

"Oh come on Hatake! It's a free meal. Stop being a pain-in-the-ass and accept my attempt at being nice. I was a total bitch to you during the mission."

Hesitantly, Kakashi turned and regarded Anko with a calculating eye. Anko seemed like she wasn't going to try anything, but the little warning bells in Kakashi's head were still going off. Chewing on her bottom lip beneath her mask, Kakashi agreed. It was a free meal after all. "Sure, Anko. I'll go with you."

A few minutes later, Kakashi found herself sitting with Anko as Ayame took her order. The woman was a sight to see as she glared across the counter at the pair. Ayame was Naruto's self-appointed big sister, even more so since she married Iruka. In Kakashi's opinion, having two mother hens as the 'relatives' of your lover wasn't very healthy for her 'Naruto time.' Iruka was convinced Kakashi was going to hurt his little brother.

"I'll have it out in a minute, Hatake-san."

Kakashi nodded as Anko scooted her stool closer and loudly exclaimed how much ass she kicked on their last mission. The silver haired shinobi ignored her for the most part. That is 'til the ramen came out and Anko managed to upturn the burning hot ramen into Kakashi's lap.

"Oops."

Kakashi's right eye nearly twitched as she tried to ignore the burning feeling coming from her lap. Ayame grimaced in sympathy before politely asking if he'd like to clean up in the back. The silver haired shinobi instantly agreed and followed Ayame into the small washroom in the back of the ramen stand.

Anko took the opportunity to plant the drugs into the remaining bowl of ramen. She knew she was putting way too much into the broth, but if she wanted her job done this time, she was better safe than sorry. The drug she picked was an odorless, tasteless, and colorless liquid that would mix right into the broth of the ramen. She would get a sluggish and drugged Kakashi without having to do a lot of work.

Kakashi came back trying not to glare at Anko's smiling face and the innocent looking bowl of ramen. "Since I did spill your bowl, I've decided you can have mine."

Kakashi sat down and ate with gusto. All she could think about was finishing the little meeting and getting home to sleep the experience off.

Anko grinned as Ayame gave her another bowl. She had Kakashi right where she wanted him. It didn't take long before Anko began noticing the signs of the drug in Kakashi's system. His speech started to slur slightly, it wasn't too noticeable, but Anko knew what signs to look for. His shoulders began slumping even more than usual. Finally, the visible part of his face slackened where the drug was relaxing his muscles. Anko cackled to herself as she put her arms around the man and disappeared from the stand, leaving behind only the money for the ramen and a confused Ayame.

Kakashi felt like she was in a haze. Her finely honed shinobi senses were going off loudly in her ear, but her mind was so cloudy that she couldn't think. All she knew was that someone's hand was on her lower back and whispering into her ear for her to open the front door. The voice was familiar and sounded a little husky, but she couldn't place who it was. Kakashi tried to turn and look at the person, but it hurt to even open her eyes or turn her head. Did she get injured on her last mission? Hell, when was her last mission?

Something wasn't right and she knew it, but she just couldn't figure out what was wrong. Her mind was too befuddled. Figuring she might as well go on and open the front door, Kakashi brought up her hands and felt frustrated as suddenly clumsy fingers ran through the seals to unlock the door. That hand on her back instantly maneuvered her inside and into her bedroom. Her legs gave out as soon as she hit the bedroom, but luckily she caught the end of the bed.

Crawling up the length of the bed, Kakashi turned around to see a head of spiky hair. It was too dark to see the color, but that spiky hair reminded her so much of her Naruto.

"Naruto?"

The form stiffened before nodding. Kakashi rubbed her eye to see if she could clear the blurriness from it because Naruto looked too thin to her. Kakashi made a move to get up, but the shadow pushed her back down. Slowly, the dark hands began unbuttoning her shirt. The sudden urge to giggle hit Kakashi hard as the hands brushed against her sensitive stomach. She eventually did giggle as she pushed the hands away. Her brain barely registered the fact that those hands were so much smaller than her lover's hands.

"Wait, Naruto," Kakashi couldn't stop the giggles now and knew she would later never live this down, "let me get ready."

Sloppily, the silver haired shinobi brought up her hands and slammed chakra into the seal. A surprised gasp filled the room as Kakashi closed her eye to try and stop the room from spinning. She never knew what hit her whenever the shadow reached over and pinched a pressure point, knocking Kakashi unconscious.

Anko's mouth was opened wide in shock as she looked over the silver haired woman in front of her. Not wasting another minute, she disappeared from the room.

* * *

The banging on her door woke her up almost instantly. Kakashi jumped up from her bed and held her pounding head in her hands as the banging on the door got louder. She couldn't remember anything past walking into her front door. Hurriedly putting up her henge, Kakashi stumbled to the door and yanked it open.

"Can I help you?"

The ANBU waiting at the door nodded. "Hatake-san, there was an accident."

Kakashi blinked and straightened her back as she gripped the wood of the doorframe in her hand. "Who was involved?"

"Naruto's team was ambushed."

Kakashi didn't even wait for the ANBU to finish his summons. She was out the door, barely bothering to lock the door behind her. The silver haired ninja didn't even have shoes on as she jumped from roof to roof to get to the hospital as quickly as she could. It was ironic, the place she hated the most was the place she wanted to be more than anywhere else.

The waiting room on the fourth floor intensive care unit was crowded when she arrived, making her instantly aware of her state of undress. A part of her knew she should feel ashamed at the sloppy sight she must have been, but she just couldn't make herself care at that moment. Iruka rushed over to her and dragged her into the nearest empty exam room.

Iruka fumed as his stepped right into his mother hen mode and threw a pair of hospital slippers at the silver haired shinobi. "I understand Naruto means a lot to you, but please dress yourself before showing up in public! I'm not explaining to my overprotective little brother that his lover couldn't walk because his feet were cut up."

"Why are there so many people in the waiting room?"

"There were two teams that were ambushed and most of their friends and family are waiting for news. It's expected to be crowded, especially considering some of the shinobi that were injured."

Kakashi nodded as Iruka led her back outside to sit in the waiting room. Instantly she noticed Gai there, as well as Yamato. The two men were glaring at each other from across the room as the brown haired man moved over for Kakashi to sit beside him. Gai gave Kakashi a mock salute as he grinned at the silver haired shinobi.

Kakashi opted to ignore him and instead watched the shinobi around her.

Ino and Choji were both talking in whispers to her left while Yamato sat tensely to her right. Ino was actually taking this whole ordeal very well. Her current boyfriend had been on the mission, but Choji seemed to be doing a remarkable job of taking her mind off of the situation. Shikamaru was seated across the room with Asuma, they were playing a game of Shogi, but Shikamaru's mind seemed to be on other things. If Kakashi remembered correctly, Hyuuga Hinata was on that mission with him and unbeknownst to most of the rookie nine, Shikamaru and Hinata were dating. Her injuries must have been serious too if Shikamaru was losing to Asuma and Neji was actually looking a little frazzled. Inuzuka Hana sat on the floor with her canine companions. The dogs were whimpering and knowing about the close connection between canine and master, Kakashi knew they were trying to understand their mistress's feelings. Shino and Kiba had both been on the mission with Hinata and Naruto too.

As far as Kakashi knew, those four were the only members of the rookie nine that took part of the mission. The other shinobi, with the exception of one, were mostly chunin a little younger than the rookie nine. Naruto had been so excited about leading this mission because Tsunade said she would allow him to take a genin team if he showed himself capable of handling younger subordinates.

The thought of Naruto hurt made Kakashi's heart throb. She took a deep breath and sat back against the white wall. There was nothing more they could do other than wait for the news.

* * *

"Anko, did you get the sample?"

Anko looked horrible. Her hair was spikier than normal and her eyes had bags underneath them. Even her clothes looked wrinkled and dirty. For a few minutes, she just stared at two council elders in blank silence.

"Anko! Did you get a semen sample?"

Anko was still silent.

"Anko! Answer us!"

With that same blank and shocked look on her face, Anko spoke the words that sealed Hatake Kakashi's fate.

"You can't get a semen sample from a female."

* * *

Tsunade appeared in the waiting room in a blood covered apron sporting the saddest pair of eyes Kakashi had ever seen. She stood in front of the room and sighed tiredly as Kakashi stood up and looked at her imploringly.

"Kakashi."

"How is he, Hokage-sama?"

The others behind Kakashi waited with bated breath for Tsunade to speak. "He's stable Kakashi, but he's not healing as quickly as he usually does." Tears gathered in her eyes as she swallowed heavily. "He lost a lot of blood and his chakra is unstable, but he's healing. I'm worried because he hasn't woken up yet, usually he comes too fairly quickly."

Kakashi backed up and sat beside Yamato, who discreetly rubbed a comforting circle on her lower back. Others were slowly filing out of the waiting room to see about their loved ones when Kakashi looked up at Tsunade. "Can I go see him?"

Tsunade looked over and nodded her head. "He's unconscious, Kakashi, but you can see with him. Room 432, right down the hall."

Just as Kakashi stood up, a dark shadow fell over her. She looked up, as did Yamato and Asuma. Gai grinned evilly at Kakashi, but the bowl cut man never had a chance to speak. Just as his lips formed the letters, the elder council members entered the room with a trio of ANBU.

"Arrest the one disguised as Hatake Kakashi!"

Both of Kakashi's eyes widened as the ANBU took a step forward, but Yamato was right there for her. A pair of branches appeared from the walls and blocked off their advance.

Tsunade was furious as she glowered at the elder council members. "What the fuck is going on here? This is a hospital and last time I checked he was Hatake Kakashi."

Homura pushed his glasses further up his nose and shook his head. "We received strange reports early this morning over a concerning issue."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the gray headed man as the remaining shinobi in the room waited for the information. Ino looked positively delighted at being able to discover a new secret. "Really now? Last time I checked I was Hokage, so why haven't I heard about these reports?"

Koharu squinted at the blonde haired woman beside her. "At the time you were busy. We only do things for the good of Konoha."

"So how is accusing one of my most loyal shinobi of being an imposter for the good of Konoha?"

Koharu folded her hands in front of her before glancing over to Kakashi's frozen form. "Why don't you go on and admit the truth. You're not Hatake Kakashi."

Kakashi shook her head. "I am Kakashi."

"I assure you that Hatake Kakashi is male!"

Only years of shinobi training saved Kakashi from flinching at the sudden accusation. It was true, but she didn't need to let everyone know. "I assure you that I am fully male."

Gai stepped in close to Kakashi. The grin on his face was positively evil as he gripped her forearm. "Now rival, you really shouldn't lie to the elders of Konoha like that."

Falling right back into their old banter, Kakashi looked over at Gai with a bored eye. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

From the look in Gai's eye, Kakashi instantly knew he had reached his breaking point. Mentally she rejoiced because he was just a few minutes away from ruining the reputation he'd spent years building up. Of course, another part of Kakashi knew this might be the last time she would be respected as a shinobi.

"I'll show you, bitch."

Before Kakashi or Yamato could react, even though Kakashi was expecting it, Gai slammed a hand into the seal on Kakashi's stomach. The entire room, including those standing in the doorway that had been attracted by the yelling, stared in dumbfounded awe as Kakashi's henge fell, revealing the female below. Tsunade actually dropped the chart in her hand.

"See! Arrest the hussy for impersonating Hatake Kakashi! Sweetheart, you'll wish you wouldn't have done this once Ibiki gets through with you!"

Yamato and Asuma both stood in front of Kakashi, but the silver haired woman pushed through them. "I'm not impersonating Hatake Kakashi. I am Hatake Kakashi."

Homura scoffed. "You expect us to believe you?"

Asuma held up a single finger and looked towards Tsunade. "She's telling the truth. I've known about it since I was six. Dad told me. He left records on it, but I don't think you've found them yet, Hokage-sama."

Kakashi turned to Yamato and pointed to the branches. "Let them go."

"Sempai?"

"Do it now, Yamato."

Reluctantly, the branches receded back releasing the ANBU, but they were in shocked silence so they didn't even make a move towards Kakashi.

Tsunade rubbed a hand across her eyes. "Un-fucking-believable. I need a drink."

Koharu hissed in disgust. "No, you need to have the liar arrested! Hatake Sakumo sired a son, not a daughter."

The blonde Hokage held up a hand to silence the duo before walking over to Kakashi and gingerly lifting up the hitai-ate resting there. "Open your eye." Kakashi did as asked and watched as Tsunade ran a chakra filled finger over the gift. A few tense moments later, Tsunade smacked the silver haired female lightly on her masked cheek. "You're such a brat for doing these things to me. Go see Naruto while I take care of this mess."

Relieved for just the moment, the woman nodded before looking around at the wide eyes and disappearing down the hall, ignoring the excited murmurs following her. All she knew was that she needed to see Naruto. She would worry about her reputation later.

Kakashi took a deep breath before opening the door to see Naruto lying on the hospital bed attached to beeping machines. "Oh Naruto-kun. What did you do to yourself?"

* * *

Homura was fuming. "You just let an unidentified female into the room with our jinchuriki!"

Tsunade turned and glared at the man. "First off, Uzumaki Naruto is more than just a jinchuriki. Secondly, the only person in all of Konoha that has a Sharingan is Kakashi. She has the Sharingan, so she has to be Kakashi."

"She could have killed him and implanted the eye into herself."

"No, the scar tissue is too old for it to be a new wound. That woman is Hatake Kakashi. Why she's been masquerading as a man is beyond me, but she's our Copy Ninja."

Homura took a step forward, but was stopped by Koharu's hand on his forearm. "Stop. This could work in our favor. Imagine how strong any children she bore would be. We could pair her with any man and the results would be amazing."

The ground cracked underneath Tsunade's feet as she stomped her foot to get their attention. "You two will leave her alone. I've let you two run unchecked for a while now. I think it is past time for you two to retire."

Even though they opened their mouths to fight it, Tsunade's word was final.

* * *

Kakashi walked over and sat down beside Naruto's hospital bed. Unwanted wetness prickled behind her eyelids as she closed her eyes and pressed a kiss against one of Naruto's knuckles. The woman didn't know if she could stand to lose another one of her loved ones. After everything she had been through, surely she deserved some happiness.

Tsunade entered the room moments later with a stunned look on her face.

"Kakashi?"

The silver haired woman held up a hand in greeting as the other hand stroked Naruto's lifeless fingers. "Yo, Hokage-sama."

The female Hokage locked the door behind her as she walked over to Kakashi. "Hatake, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

"Now isn't the time for that," Kakashi desperately pleaded, "I can't answer any questions right now about my gender. It's too frustrating and I'm too stressed right now."

Tsunade chewed on her bottom lip for a few seconds before nodding her head. "Fine. We'll discuss this later then. Just answer me one thing, Kakashi."

"What?"

"Does Naruto know?"

Laughter bubbled up from Kakashi's chest and filled the nearly silent room. "Yes, he knows all too well." She reached over and stroked back a limp bang from his eyes. "He'll be really happy to hear that I've been revealed. He's wanted me to stay female for awhile now."

Tsunade sighed as she placed the chart on the end of Naruto's bed and walked out of the room, making sure to keep the door locked behind her. Kakashi needed her privacy right now. Tsunade would grant her that.

* * *

For the first few hours after Kakashi's reveal, all of Konoha talked about nothing else and, thanks to Ino, they had plenty of fuel to fire the gossip flame. The mission room became nothing more than one big meeting room as ninjas poured in to hear the juiciest piece of gossip they'd heard in a while.

Most took the news with disbelief, especially those that had known Kakashi since she was young.

"You're lying!"

Ino shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. "I saw it with my own eyes! Hatake Kakashi has been a girl this entire time!"

Genma scoffed at the woman in front of him as his fellow shinobi excitedly whispered behind him. "I'll believe it when I see it."

"Ask Choji! He was there too! Right, Choji?"

Choji coughed as he tried to dislodge the chip from his throat. He really hadn't expected to be dragged into this by Ino. Usually she never even noticed him whenever she was in full gossip mode.

"Ino, I don't think it's right to spread rumors about Kakashi-sensei. She doesn't deserve it."

Ino stared at him blankly for a moment before turning back to Genma and pointed wildly in her teammate's direction. "See! He said she!"

Genma chewed on the end of his senbon in thought. "It's still weird. I mean, have you met Hatake Kakashi? I find it hard to believe that our porn-loving, lightning-wielding, eccentric, elite jounin is female. Surely someone would have noticed it before now?"

The others agreed with Genma just as Anko walked into the room. "It's the truth. I'm the one that uncovered it."

"You're not fucking with us?"

Anko shook her head as she leaned against the wall. "Kakashi is female. Didn't any of you ever find it suspicious that Kakashi never dated a female or that none of the kunoichi has ever bragged about bagging the Hatake for a night? In fact, even after discovering Kakashi liked men, the only one to openly claim the honor of sleeping with him, well her, has been Naruto."

Aoba shrugged. "We all just figured Kakashi's lovers knew to keep quiet about it. Never would have guessed he'd really be a chick." Looking back over at Genma, Aoba smirked and elbowed his fellow tokubetsu jounin in the ribs. "I'm actually kind of jealous of Naruto right about now. I've seen Kakashi fight, she's definitely flexible and can you imagine the power trip Naruto gets while banging that? Hell, even if she's an ugly girl, just knowing you're dominating the Copy Ninja would drive anybody up the wall."

One of the jounin in the background snorted in laughter as another one scowled disapprovingly. "I don't think you should be disrespecting Kakashi-sempai like that Aoba. She's still an elite jounin, regardless of her gender."

Aoba held up his hands in defense. "Calm down. It's all in good fun. It's just funny that all this time she's been trying to live as a man."

"I don't find it funny." Everyone turned to look at the sudden appearance of Gai. "I don't find it funny at all. Hatake Kakashi has put all of Konoha in danger by continuously lying about her true gender. In her male henge she may be great, but no one has ever seen her fight without it. For all we know, she could be a liability on a mission."

Murmurs of agreement went up around the room.

Genma flicked his senbon around on his tongue before scanning the crowd. "You're right Gai, but Kakashi wouldn't put Konoha in danger like that. I'm sure she's been trained. Her father would have had to put the seal on her and would have made damn sure she was fully trained."

"She would, if she wanted to save her own tail." Gai's smile got positively evil as he crossed his arms. "I've always heard that Obito's death was suspicious. Maybe Obito found out her secret and she got rid of him?"

Gai grinned as the ninja in the room ran wild with his little accusation, that is, until Tsunade walked through the door with Iruka trailing close behind. Every voice stopped instantly as the blonde haired Hokage pointed to the door. That was Gai's cue to disappear and before the Hokage could see him, he was gone.

"If you're not here to pick up a mission or drop off a mission report, then get the fuck out." The room began to clear, leaving only a handful of shinobi still in the room. Tsunade glared at the remaining shinobi. "From the rest of you, I don't want to hear a single damn thing about Hatake Kakashi."

A weak chorus of 'yes ma'am' went up just as Tsunade walked into her office and slammed the door shut. Iruka waited a few minutes before walking in after her.

"Tsunade-sama."

"Iruka, you're the only one that knew the Third well enough to know where he would hide documents. I need you to find those files on Hatake Kakashi."

"Yes ma'am."

* * *

Tsunade was back in Naruto's hospital room with a stack of folders just as the sun began to set. Iruka really did outdo himself this time. He had found everything she needed in record time and even organized it for her. Well, one headache was taken care of, but the one steadily growing outside the hospital walls would need more than just a determined chunin to conquer it. Hell, Tsunade didn't even know if the combined forces of herself and Naruto would be able to conquer Konoha's gossip vine.

Kakashi's reputation was being ripped to pieces by a few naysayers and gossipers, apparently someone got it into their heads that Kakashi was being purposely destructive to Konoha. It angered Tsunade so much, but there was nothing she could do now. She had to focus on the task at hand and worry about everything else later.

Tsunade walked into Naruto's hospital room to find Kakashi lounging in the chair beside Naruto's bed reading the Icha Icha book Naruto gave her after he came back from training with Jiraiya.

"Tsunade-sama."

"So your love for porn isn't just an overly exaggerated stereotype to convince everyone you're male?"

Kakashi turned a page and giggled at the cheesy pickup line the main character used to woo his ladylove. "It's erotica, Tsunade-sama, not porn."

Tsunade rolled her eyes as she walked to Naruto's bedside to check him over. She sighed when she saw there was no change in his state. Quietly, Tsunade turned back to Kakashi and tossed the stack of folders at her. "Here's everything the Sandaime documented about you. I've read through it and understand a majority of it, but there's still a lot I don't understand. I'm going to wait patiently, though. You're no good to me like this."

"Naruto's more important than me right now. We'll talk about it later. How is he?"

"No change, but his chakra is still erratic. Which is probably why he hasn't woken up yet or healed properly."

Kakashi snapped her book closed as she walked over and looked over Naruto. "Can I try to stabilize it?"

"Naruto's reserves are huge. You'd never be able to stabilize his chakra."

"It wouldn't hurt to try."

Tsunade sighed as she rubbed a hand across her eyes. "You're a stubborn brat, you know that right? Just don't kill yourself."

Kakashi handed her back the folders as she moved to sit on Naruto's bed and began to feed her chakra into his body. Tsunade watched for a few moments before thumbing through the folder and pulling out a smaller one, detailing all the people that knew Kakashi was female. Surprisingly enough, Gai's name wasn't listed.

Tsunade figured she better start with Gai. He seemed to know about Kakashi's true gender and he didn't seem too happy about it. Yes, Gai was the perfect place to start and then she'd move to Anko. She'd get to the others later.

"Cat, tell Gai to meet me in my office for a meeting."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

* * *

Gai was pissed as he glared at the door in front of him.

On top of Kakashi not completely falling apart after being exposed, he now had to go see Tsunade. Konoha really went to Hell whenever she was inaugurated as Hokage. In Gai's little opinion, it was possibly the blackest day in Konoha's history. Women shouldn't be allowed in such high levels of office. They would only fuck it up and looking at Tsunade's track record, Gai felt his opinion was justified.

Stiffly, Gai walked into Tsunade's office. He didn't bow to her and if Tsunade noticed she gave no indication.

"Welcome, Gai. I'm sure you already know why you've been called into my office."

"I assume it's about Kakashi."

Tsunade nodded as she folded her hands in front of her. "Please sit, Gai, this may take a while."

Gai shook his head and widened his stance. "I prefer to stand."

"Suit yourself. Let's cut straight to the point, Gai. How did you know about Kakashi's true gender?"

"She told me when we were children."

Tsunade nodded her head as she quickly scribbled down a few notes. "Why weren't you listed in the Sandaime's notes?"

"Probably because he didn't know."

Tsunade stopped writing and looked hard at Gai. She really didn't like his tone or his short, choppy answers.

"Is something bothering you, Gai?"

"No."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the tight tone and thinned lips. "Well, it certainly seems so. Anyway, why were you so angry with Kakashi before you dropped her henge?"

Without thinking, Gai snorted as he began to degrade Kakashi. "She's a bitch. Damn good talent was wasted on a bitch. I was tired of her getting the respect."

Tsunade blinked in slight shock as Gai glowered at her. "A bitch? Last time I checked, Kakashi was one of your best friends."

"My best friend? Don't make me laugh. I don't make friends with women. They're not worthy of it."

The pencil in Tsunade's hand snapped in two as she listened to Gai. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Women are good for only two things, cooking and fucking."

Tsunade stared at Gai in quiet disbelief as he stared back in anger and conviction. She raised a hand and called for her ANBU guards. "Get him out of here. Now!"

It took a few minutes to get Gai out of her office, but when her guards finally did, all Tsunade could do was sit in shocked silence at what she just heard. "Yugao!"

The purple haired ANBU appeared in front of her desk instantly. "Yes Hokage-sama?"

"You're listed on here as a close friend of Hatake Kakashi. Tell me what's going on with Gai."

"Well, Hokage-sama, he's the vilest man I've ever met."

For the next few hours, Yugao detailed everything Gai had ever done to Kakashi. All the dangerous challenges whenever Kakashi wasn't physically well enough to perform them. The constant torture of Gai reminding Kakashi he would drop her henge without a moment's notice if she didn't compete with her. The purple haired woman told everything, right down to Gai attacking Kakashi just to weaken the seal.

Tsunade listened and at the end of Yugao's tale, the two women went into the records room and found Gai's mission records. The Hokage found a surprising pattern on the man's mission records. On every mission that dealt with a female client, the female usually ended up injured, but not enough to warrant the client to cancel the mission payment. Another stunning discovery was that all of Gai's assassination targets had been women.

It was a shocking find. One that gave Tsunade enough evidence to bring Gai under investigation by T&I. Now the woman had to deal with Anko. After this, Tsunade knew she deserved a nice, big bottle of sake.

* * *

**One week later...**

* * *

When Naruto finally came to, all he was aware of was the silver haired female curled against his side. Of course, he had to do a double take after he realized Kakashi was fully female in public. Sluggishly, Naruto turned to watch the hospital door unlock and open to reveal a certain blonde haired Hokage. Naruto quickly made a move to cover Kakashi from the imploring eyes of the woman.

Tsunade walked over and stopped him from jostling the bed too much. She really didn't want him to wake up Kakashi, not after everything the sliver haired woman had done in order to wake Naruto up. "She's exhausted, Naruto, don't wake her up."

Utterly confused, Naruto looked up at Tsunade and cleared his throat. "W-what happened?"

She brought over a cup of water and waited for him to finish drinking before quietly informing him of the past week's events as she removed the wires connecting him to the steadily beeping machines. "You were injured on your last mission, brat. I thought I told you to be careful?"

Naruto shrugged before lying back against his pillows. "Sorry, but I couldn't let them hurt my friends." Blue eyes looked over to the woman curled into his side. "What happened for Kakashi to drop her henge?"

Tsunade sighed as she sat down in the chair beside his bed. "After spending the last few days interrogating Kakashi, the elder council members, and a few other jounin, I feel like I've only scratched the surface on the mystery that is Hatake Kakashi. Apparently, the Council sent Anko to retrieve a semen sample from Kakashi in hopes of continuing the Hatake clan. Well, after Anko didn't succeed on their mission together, the Council ordered her to try harder."

Naruto's eyes narrowed dangerously as he protectively wrapped an arm around the sleeping woman's shoulders.

"Anko drugged Kakashi, and in her haze, Kakashi dropped her henge. I'm sure you can guess what happened next."

"She told the Council."

"Yep. Koharu and Homura pitched a fit because they thought someone was impersonating Kakashi. Long story short, Gai dropped her henge and gave Konoha's gossip vine the biggest piece of gossip they've had since Ino dated Genma last year."

"Fuck!"

"Shut-up, Naruto!"

"Sorry!"

Tsunade sighed deeply before pointing to the slumbering woman at Naruto's side. "Kakashi hasn't left your hospital room since then. She's been working tirelessly to stabilize your chakra to wake you up. Your chakra system was so out of whack that you needed someone to feed their chakra into you to stabilize your own and with your massive chakra reserves it took a lot out of her. I tried everything to keep her from working herself into exhaustion, but she's been so determined that nothing has been able to stop her." Tsunade looked deep into Naruto's eyes and smirked. "She really loves you, brat."

Naruto lowered his eyes as he grinned to himself. "I know. I love her too."

The Hokage crossed her arms before standing up and beginning to walk out the door. "I'll come back later to check you over. Don't you dare leave this room."

Naruto nodded and waited for Tsunade to leave before scooting back down to lay beside Kakashi in a more comfortable position. Just as he began to close his eyes, Kakashi opened hers. Naruto smiled sweetly at her before leaning forward, pulling down her mask, and capturing her lips in a sweet, tender kiss. It didn't take long for Kakashi to reach up and run her fingers through the disgustingly greasy hair and caress the dirt spotted skin. Naruto really needed a bath, but Kakashi didn't care at that moment, all that mattered was the fact that he was no longer laying listlessly on the bed.

"You're awake."

Naruto grinned against her lips as he pulled back and looked at her fully. "You're female."

"Let's not rub that in." She stopped and rubbed at a sticky spot on Naruto's chest where one of the wires was taped. "It's good to see you without all those wires on."

Naruto chuckled as he kissed her forehead, much to her annoyance. "Do you regret it?"

Kakashi chewed on her bottom lip before shaking her head. "It feels nice right now, but I haven't been outside of this hospital room yet. I'm sort of dreading that part. I don't know what to expect and Tsunade refuses to tell me what everyone is saying."

Naruto smiled before sitting up and moving off of the bed. Kakashi watched as he stretched before walking over to the small closet and pulling out his clothes. As carefully as he could, Naruto dressed before going back to his bed and holding out a hand for Kakashi. Kakashi blinked at the outstretched hand as she gingerly took it and let Naruto pull her to her feet. Intertwining their fingers together, Naruto pulled her towards the door.

"Let's get out of here and find out then."

"I thought you told Tsunade you weren't going to leave."

Naruto smirked and shrugged as he unlocked the door and opened it. Sunlight poured into the room from the window across the hall. "I never promised I wouldn't leave. Besides, I promised you I would erase those memories of Anko. I can't do that here can I?"

"You just woke up Naruto. I'm sure the medics would frown upon such strenuous activity."

Naruto grinned before leaning close and whispering into his lover's ear exactly what he would do once they did get home. Kakashi pulled up her mask just as her smile turned lecherous, but that didn't stop her hands from reaching to pinch Naruto's backside. "Who am I kidding? I hate the hospital. Let's go home."

"Home it is."

Naruto chuckled before leaning over and kissing Kakashi's masked cheek. "I love you, Kakashi. No matter what anyone says from here on out, I want you to know that I love you."

Kakashi squeezed Naruto's hand, her heart clenched and her stomach fluttered before she smiled and spoke the words she hadn't spoken since she was a small child. "I-thank you, Naruto. I love you too."

Naruto couldn't keep the grin off his face as he dragged his lover into the open hall full of medic ninjas. Though Naruto wasn't fazed by the staring medics, Kakashi was. Thanks to her superior hearing, she could hear the whisperings as Naruto dragged her out of the hospital.

"There's Hatake Kakashi."

"I wonder if she realizes how much she's embarrassed herself and her family by masquerading as a man for so long."

"I bet Hatake Sakumo is spinning in his grave at having such an improper daughter."

That struck Kakashi to her core. Didn't they realize her father had to have known about her henge? What the hell did they think she did? Use a henge at the time of her birth? She was talented as a child, but she wasn't that talented.

Apparently, Naruto heard the whisperings as well. He squeezed her hand comfortingly and increased his speed. A jutsu would have been a whole lot quicker, but neither had the chakra to spare. Naruto's reserves may have been stable, but he couldn't chance them with a jutsu. Kakashi had exhausted herself trying to stabilize Naruto, so her reserves weren't able to handle a jutsu either.

They would just have to suffer through the journey across the village and bear everything that was thrown at them.

It really didn't get bad 'til Kakashi and Naruto stepped into the village's market. People didn't know when to keep their damn mouths shut, especially the more outspoken civilians.

"I don't know what's worse, them being homosexuals or liars."

"Well, since Hatake ended up being female, they're not technically gay."

Laughter went up around the group of men as one looked dead at the silver haired female and grinned. "I always knew Hatake didn't have the balls to back up her boasts."

"I always thought Chidori was a strange name for a jutsu. Figures, a woman thought of it."

Kakashi didn't let them see her anger. She disregarded the mouthy man rather quickly in favor for watching the peaceful clouds overhead. For one thing, she didn't boast. Kakashi had never been one to flaunt her genius. Okay, after Obito's death, she had never been one to fault her genius. Even she'll admit to being a little arrogant before he died. Arrogant she may have been, but she didn't deserve this shit. Nor did her powerful assassination jutsu deserve to be picked on. She'd love to see him go against her Chidori without wetting his pants.

Naruto apparently thought so too. His entire body was twitching beside her and from the tiny sparks of red chakra Kakashi knew her lover was angry. Hoping to calm him down, Kakashi gently rubbed a circle on Naruto's knuckle.

"Calm down, Naruto," Kakashi whispered underneath her breath.

"I can't, Sensei," Naruto hissed back as he turned to glare at a staring woman on his right.

"This is my fight, Naruto. You mustn't let them see how much they anger or hurt you. They're winning if they realize how much you're affected by their words and looks."

Naruto took a cleansing breath and nodded. They continued the rest of the way to Kakashi's apartment with Kakashi hanging on to the little bit of control she had. By the time she made it into her apartment, her control was shot and Naruto could feel it. He tried to lighten the situation up, but his plan ended up back firing.

"Now that wasn't so bad was it? I'm sure we've been on missions tougher than that."

Kakashi rounded on him nearly instantly, her finely honed shinobi restraint thrown out the window because it wasn't fair that she should be judged so harshly for wanting to be respected. It wasn't fair she had to be persecuted for the decision her father made for her.

"Did you see that Naruto? That was my reputation being ripped in pieces! This is why I wanted to stay male!"

"Kakashi."

"No. Don't 'Kakashi' me. Naruto, my entire life's work has been made into a joke. Do you understand that? Can you get that through your thick skull? You may be thrilled because you won't have to hear them call you a fag, but I'm going to have to live with them constantly talking behind my back. I'll never have the respect I once had."

Naruto's gaze dropped to the floor as Kakashi's chakra sizzled around her before she managed to calm herself down. She regarded Naruto with a weary eye before walking into her bedroom and shutting the door. For the rest of the night, Kakashi stayed in her room and Naruto piddled around the apartment. It wasn't 'til very early in the morning that Naruto worked up the nerve to walk into Kakashi's bedroom.

He found her sleeping in the middle of the bed, her left eye leaking tears as she slept. Naruto's eyes softened as he walked over to the bed and crawled in beside her. She woke up long enough to shift into his arms and press her face into his neck.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi. If I could take the past few weeks back, I would. I don't want you to feel like this."

Kakashi's breath shuddered slightly before she spoke. "It's okay, Naruto. I was out of line earlier. That won't happen again. It's just hard to find out that all of my fears were justified."

Naruto sighed as he tightened his grip on Kakashi. "No, no. All you saw were a bunch of stupid civilians. You know they are the same civilians that still hiss 'monster' at me. They don't speak for all of Konoha. Besides, they're just acting that way because it's new gossip. It's going to die down and you'll find yourself just as respected and feared as you once was."

"What do you expect me to do, Naruto?"

"You can't hide in this apartment. That will solve nothing."

"I never said I was going to hide." Naruto chuckled as he reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind Kakashi's ear. The silver haired woman rolled both of her eyes in mock annoyance before curling her fingers around his bicep. "Let's think about this later."

Naruto nodded before drifting off to sleep with Kakashi.

* * *

Tomorrow came way too quickly for Kakashi.

She woke up to the smell of Naruto's attempt at breakfast and felt it was fitting that the smell of burning rice would start off the first day of the rest of her new life. As much as she wanted to revert back into her henge, she knew she couldn't. Too many people in Konoha knew. She had to live the rest of her life out as she was supposed to. Regardless of how much she didn't want to.

"Naruto? What are you burning?"

Naruto squawked at her sudden appearance. "Don't do that to me! You're going to give me a heart attack."

Kakashi grinned as she walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're supposed to be an elite ninja, Naruto."

Naruto rolled his eyes before stirring the slightly burned rice. "I didn't expect you to be awake and before you say anything, yes, I know that's not an excuse. Did you sleep well?"

"As well as can be expected," Kakashi watched as he turned up the stove before sighing and turning it down, "move over. I'll do it."

Naruto held up a hand and removed himself from her arms. "No! You go sit down."

"I actually want to eat something edible."

Naruto chuckled before playfully swatting Kakashi on the behind. "Sit! Now!" Kakashi rolled her eyes as she went over and sat at the kitchen table. "Are you ready for today?"

Kakashi propped her feet up on the table and leaned back in her chair. "Depends on what we're doing."

"Well, I thought we'd go get a mission or something."

"They're not going to give you a mission, Naruto. You left the hospital without permission. Plus, I'd rather not leave the apartment today."

"You've got to leave the apartment, Kakashi. You can't hide here forever."

Kakashi stared at him for a few minutes before crossing her arms in front of her. "What will leaving the apartment accomplish? Other than further showing me that I've lost everything I've worked for?"

"Kakashi! Work with me here. I'm telling you, everything has probably died down by now."

"Just for today, Naruto. I just need some time to myself right now to think."

Naruto nodded his head before taking the pot of rice off of the stove. He used his chopsticks to taste test his concoction. "Fine. You're entitled to at least one day."

Her lips twitched up into a smile as Naruto tasted his rice and spat it right back out. "Maybe I'll spend the day teaching you how to cook rice? Hmm?"

"Shut-up! Get over here and help me."

* * *

**One week later...**

* * *

Kakashi's one day turned into one week after Tsunade requested the silver haired woman undergo a series of tests to prove she was just as talented as a kunoichi as she was as a shinobi. Tsunade and her ANBU put Kakashi through every test they could think of. Everything from taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu to endurance, survival, and strength was meticulously tested.

Kakashi excelled in every single test and set a very high bar for her fellow kunoichi.

She astonished most of the new council, consisting of Nara Shikaku and several of the clan heads, and Tsunade with her results in endurance and prowess. Not that any of them doubted her, but to actually see the results was amazing. Of course, Kakashi's old ANBU buddies were very quick in teasing her after she beat them into the ground and surprisingly enough, Kakashi found herself teasing right back.

Naruto couldn't have been happier whenever Tsunade announced that Kakashi was just as good as she was when she was under her henge. A combination of the test results and the reactions of her old ANBU buddies gave Kakashi something Naruto wasn't able to, a peace of mind. Kakashi experienced a huge boost of confidence and was actually thrilled when Tsunade approved her to continue her training and missions.

All that was left was for Kakashi to make the much needed trip to the mission room. Her ANBU buddies may not have batted an eye at her sudden change in gender, but most of the regular ninja forces were a bunch of gossipers. Naruto was right for the most part, the civilian part of Konoha started to remember exactly who they were talking about. Their excited whispers and loud exclamations were slowly becoming back alley talk and low murmurs. As for the ninja part of Konoha, Kakashi hadn't spoken to another ninja in two weeks, other than Naruto and her friends. From Naruto's tense looks after missions, Kakashi could guess that they weren't leaving him alone with their questions and only Kakashi reappearing would stop those questions.

"Today's the day."

Naruto blinked as he looked up from his mission scroll. "What?"

"I'm going to get a mission today."

The blond grinned widely as he took in his lover's uniform. It was the same jounin uniform, except it was actually fitted for a female Kakashi. Her mask was still in place just like her hitai-ate was still tilted to the side, covering her Sharingan.

"Want me to come with you?"

Kakashi shook her head and grinned as she nervously reached back and tightened the tie around her hair. For the most part, her bangs fell just like they used to, but her hair was too long in the back to keep untied. With her low ponytail, Kakashi wondered just how much she looked like her father.

"I'm a big girl, I can handle this."

Naruto snorted as he closed the mission scroll. "You're in a good mood. Those test results went to your head."

"Did not."

"Did too."

"Not."

"Too."

The two lovers grinned at each other before Kakashi walked over and kissed Naruto's cheek. "Now, be a good little househusband and have supper ready by the time I come home."

Naruto rolled his eyes before pulling Kakashi back down for a proper kiss. "We live in an apartment, not a house."

"Fine, be a good little apartment-husband then."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't kill anybody today."

"I make no promises!"

Naruto waited 'til Kakashi was out the door before henging into a brown haired nobody shinobi and made his way to the mission room. There was no way he'd miss seeing this.

* * *

Kakashi felt like her whole life had been leading up to this one moment. The moment she finally acknowledges her true gender and finally fulfills her Sensei's dying wish. Walking through the market wasn't as traumatic as it was the first day. There were still people pointing and whispering, but Kakashi could ignore them now.

Walking into the Hokage Tower had Kakashi filled with a strange anxiety, but she found her feet keeping the same steady pace they had when she was in her henge. Kakashi grinned as she pulled out her Icha Icha novel and read as she made her way into the mission's room.

Her entrance into the mission's room was exactly as she expected. She was met with silence and wide-eyed stares. Snapping her book shut, Kakashi walked forward and stood in front of the mission's desk. Iruka gave the woman a soft smile.

"Hatake-san, it's nice to have you back. The other jounin were getting antsy with so many higher ranked missions going unclaimed."

Kakashi couldn't help but thank the gods above for Iruka. "Never fear, Iruka-sensei, I'll be happy to take a few off your hands today."

Iruka nodded before handing a mission scroll over to Kakashi, only to have the scroll snatched away just as Iruka handed it over.

Ebisu observed Kakashi from behind his sunglasses as Kakashi leaned back and slouched with her hands in her pants pockets. "Problem, Ebisu?"

Iruka was already on his feet glaring at the tokubetsu jounin. "What are you doing, Ebisu?"

The bandana wearing shinobi grinned as he let the scroll slip through his fingers and fall onto the desktop. "I'm merely suggesting that Hatake-chan, take a more gender appropriate mission."

Iruka made a move to hit the jounin, but Kakashi stopped him with a single look. The entire mission room was silent as Kakashi straightened her spine and reached across the mission's desk to grab the other mission scroll from Ebisu. "Gender appropriate? So is that why you became a babysitter?"

Ebisu sputtered in an undignified way as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "I am a personal trainer for the elites!"

"No, you're a babysitter. Daimyos pay money for you to babysit their problem children in the hopes that somewhere along the way you'll teach them something useful. Don't try me, Ebisu. I may not be a man, but we both know I wouldn't even have to bat an eye to deal with you. So, if you don't want to be on the wrong end of my Chidori, I suggest you sit down, shut up, and give me the damn scroll."

Ebisu nodded quickly as he fumbled to give Kakashi her original mission. The silver haired woman grinned underneath her mask as she snatched the scroll, gave Iruka a mock salute and walked out the door.

Genma stopped her before she could leave with a half-concealed snort. "Got a problem, Shiranui?"

Genma chuckled before shaking his head. "You're still the same bastard you always were. Good luck on your mission."

Kakashi didn't show any outward shock as she took in what the man said. All she did was eye-smile at him and disappear from the room. Naruto appeared from the shadows, minus his henge, just as Kakashi left and grinned at Genma. "Did you mean it?"

The brown haired man laughed as he fixed his bandana. "Kid, Hatake has gotten me out of more shit than any of the other jounin in that room combined. Male or female, she's still a good ninja and a damn good comrade."

Naruto smiled despite the burning desire to beat the closet pervert Ebisu into a pulp. Kakashi's original fears were becoming more and more unfounded. Naruto's smile widened as he felt hope for the people of Konoha. They had accepted him so of course they would accept Kakashi.

* * *

**Four days later...**

* * *

Kakashi returned from her mission rather quickly. Her targets were definitely getting a shock from seeing the real her. Originally, Tsunade wanted Kakashi to remain in a henge for out of village missions, but with the way news spread in Konoha, there was no way to keep other countries from finding out. Strangely enough, Kakashi found her targets feared her even more.

Apparently it was commonplace in some villages to teach their sons to have a healthy fear of women. A fear shown very easily whenever one of her targets broke down and spent three minutes brokenly apologizing to every woman he had ever done wrong. Kakashi found it hilarious. Of course, Kakashi did find one of her targets on her last mission to have a steady hatred for women. He reminded her so much of Gai that the silver haired kunoichi had a great time taking him out.

Walking back into Konoha after a long mission was something Kakashi used to look forward to, but since her big reveal, Kakashi didn't know how everyone would react to her. The shock was wearing off and Kakashi herself had to admit that they weren't as bad as she originally thought they were going to be. That didn't change the fact that they all reacted badly for a few days there, but it wasn't as life changing or devastating as she feared it would be.

Of course, she also hadn't spoken to Gai since her reveal.

"Oh, eternal rival!"

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Pocketing her mission scroll and favorite book, Kakashi looked to where Gai was making his way through the crowd. Many of the civilians hadn't heard of the investigations T&I were currently undergoing concerning Gai, so of course they greeted him like a favored son.

"Gai," Kakashi drawled, "to what do I owe this meeting?"

"We haven't had a challenge in a long time. I say a taijutsu challenge is called for."

Kakashi shook her head once and began to walk off. "I'm busy, Gai. You have nothing to hold over my head anymore."

Gai's eyes narrowed as he walked forward and grabbed Kakashi's shoulder. Instantly, Kakashi flipped the man over her and punched him across the jaw. Gai fell back into the fruit vender's stand with a surprised look on his face as he wiped away the blood from his lip.

"You fucking whore!"

Gai charged while Kakashi simply raised her hitai-ate to use her Sharingan, but another green blur stopped the charging Green Beast.

"Gai-sensei! I'm back from my year-long mission! Gai-sensei? What are you doing to the woman that looks like Kakashi-sensei? The marketplace isn't the proper place for a challenge." Kakashi blinked rapidly at the confused look on Lee's face. Gai, on the other hand, roughly pushed Lee out of the way. "Sensei?"

Kakashi dodged as Gai charged her and tried to swipe her legs out from under her. The silver haired woman pivoted quickly to land a solid kick into Gai's knee, sending him tumbling to the ground. Knowing it was a dirty tactic, but not really caring at that point, Kakashi picked up a clod of dirt from the ground and threw it at Gai's head with enough force to render the man unconscious.

Lee stood in shock as ANBU appeared from the rooftops and removed Gai's body from the middle of the lane. Kakashi walked over and tugged on the stunned shinobi's arm. "Come on, Lee. Let's get you somewhere to sit down."

"Who are you?"

Kakashi didn't answer; she had too much to explain to the young man anyway.

* * *

Tsunade looked at Gai with disgust in her eyes. "I can't believe he's as bad as he is." The blonde Hokage shook her head before looking back over at Ibiki. "There's nothing that can be done for him then?"

"He's attacking women in the streets, Hokage-sama. As much as I hate for Konoha to lose such a powerful shinobi, something needs to be done."

The female Hokage tapped her finger against her chin as a sudden thought occurred to her. "Why not bury him deep in T&I? We always have female enemies popping up here, so why not let him handle them?"

Ibiki's eyes scanned the unconscious man in front of him as he slowly nodded his head in agreement. "It could work, as long as he's kept away from the female members of my team. He could do some good for Konoha still. I would still suggest punishing him, though."

Tsunade nodded as she turned to Kurenai. "Gai will be placed in T&I for the rest of his life, but 'til I'm ready to give the official orders you're in charge of his punishment. Do your worst."

Kurenai cackled evilly as she began to perform the seals needed for one of her best genjutsus yet. Gai would live out the next few days believing he was the thing he hated the most, a woman. Gai's chilling scream followed Kurenai out as she left the bowels of the T&I building.

* * *

"Is Lee going to be okay?"

Kakashi hummed happily as she sipped from the cup of warm coffee in her hands. The back of Naruto's head rested comfortably in her lap as they watched the sunrise from behind the Hokage Mountain from the roof of their apartment.

"Lee had no idea of Gai's true feelings. Apparently, Gai didn't see Lee as his son, so he didn't pass on his misogynistic views to the boy. I'm glad because I would have erased his memories to save him from becoming like Gai."

"What's going to happen to Gai?"

Kakashi balanced her cup of coffee on the roof beside her, "Tsunade-sama said she was sticking him deep into T&I. He'll never see the light of day again."

"That's depressing. I wanted to at least get one good shot at him."

The silver haired female laughed as she reached down and ran her fingers through Naruto's hair. "We'll never have to worry about him ever again, Naruto."

Naruto sat up and gently took Kakashi's hand into his. "I've asked you this a lot over the past few weeks, but I have yet to get a straight answer from you. Do you regret dropping your henge?"

Kakashi squeezed Naruto's hand as she shook her head. "It was hard at first. I hated it in the beginning, but now, I don't regret it. Yes, everyone talked like I thought they were going to, but it was all just empty words. I should have never let them get under my skin like that." She cut her eyes over at Naruto and grinned beneath her mask. "Perhaps you were actually right for once. I'm still as kickass as I was before and everybody knows it."

Naruto laughed as he launched himself at Kakashi and pinned her to the roof. "I'm glad you finally admitted I was right!"

"Don't let it go to your head; this will probably be the only time."

Naruto smiled brightly as he enclosed his arms around Kakashi's waist. "Where do we go from here?"

"Anywhere we want to."

The couple basked in the glowing early morning sunlight as the village below slowly began to wake up and go about their day. It might have taken a while, but Kakashi was finally able to emerge from the shadows and live her life as was intended. It would be an interesting journey for the couple, but as long as they were together, nothing could stop them.

* * *

**Omake**

"Oh, Naru-chan!"

"Yes Kakashi? Wait, why are you in your male henge?"

"You love me right?"

"Of course! That still doesn't explain the henge, though."

"Good! Then you won't mind if we do a little experiment?"

"Experiment? Sure, why not?"

"Great! Now henge into your Sexy no Jutsu and I'll go get the toys from underneath my bed!"

"Oka-hey! Kakashi! Wait! What are you doing with that? Kakashi! That doesn't go there!"

"Shush, Naru-chan, the neighbors will hear."

"_Kakashi_!"

* * *

*whistles happily as she sips from hot chocolate* Was it absolutely horrible or kind of good? This bunny has been hopping around in my head for weeks now and I'm very excited to get it written down and complete. There is a sequel planned if you guys are interested in seeing what happened after this point. It won't be as long as thing, but it'll be full of fluffy goodness.

**Important Information Relevant to the story:**

Of course I have to spend a few minutes weeping over the fact that I killed off Sakumo. *weeps* Anyway, Sakumo told Minato about Kakashi's true gender. He knew the consequences of Kakashi not knowing how to fight as a female. Male and females are structurally different from each other, bone mass wise, muscle mass wise, etc. If Kakashi's seal were to suddenly drop, like it did on her mission with Naruto, then she would have been at a disadvantage. Of course Minato wanted Kakashi to live as a female because he wanted her to be fully happy.

I really did hate being mean to Gai, but he makes such a nice 'bad guy'. At least I didn't make him useless. He'll have fun in T&I.

Kakashi's cycles were inspired by the fact that Minato wanted her to have the option of having children one day and living as a normal woman. He sped them up, which I find completely believable in a story about people who walk up trees and came conjure fire by moving their fingers in a certain pattern.

I tried really hard to keep my characters in-character, with the exception of Gai. I twisted their personalities as far as I could and I'm pleased with the outcome.

I hope you all enjoyed this oneshot, it was long, but I hope it was worth the time it took to read it.

Until next time,

'Rayne


	2. Reconciling with the Shadows

Welcome to the sequel of Emerging from the Shadows. This little bunny has been bugging me for a while and it even inspired another story dealing with a female Kakashi, but that one won't see the light of day for a while. I was just surprised how well received this female Kakashi was. Thanks for all the reviews and alerts and everything, it made my day to see so many people interested in a story I didn't think would get very much attention since female Kakashi is such an underused plot device.

I don't think I have much to mention about this chapter, expect it takes places seven years after the last chapter and it's full of fluffy goodness and angst goodness.

As you'll find out in a few minutes 'Namiko Uzumaki' is the name I've chosen for Kakashi and Naruto's child. Mind you, Japanese is not my first language nor have I ever received lessons in the language but from what I gather, 'Uzumaki Namiko' roughly translates to 'Whirlpool Wave child' . I thought it was a cool pun on words considering Hatake Kakashi roughly translates to 'Farmland Scarecrow'.

So Happy Readings everybody!

* * *

**Seven years later…..**

"'Listen closely my child,' pleaded the old wizard as the knight paced impatiently in his bedchambers, 'what I say will make all your endeavors fall prostrate before you.'"

"Daddy?"

The blond haired man stopped reading from the book of fairytales to look down at the fair-haired little girl looking up at him with inquisitive blue eyes. "Yes, sweetie?"

"What's an endeavor?"

Naruto chewed on his bottom lip as he tried to think of an answer for his child. "I'm not too sure. We'll ask Mama when she gets home, okay?"

"'Kay," yawned the adorably cute four-year-old as she snuggled back against her father's side and clutched at a pale yellow frog littered with dark green spots.

This was their routine, a routine perfected from long nights of gentle words weaving stories full of chivalrous deeds and haughty villains. A routine created just so the little family could be together at night since the parent's respective jobs usually kept them apart during the day. Somehow, once Naruto came home from the office and Kakashi returned from whatever mission she had for the day, the little family of three would snuggle up together in that little blue and green bed and spend a few precious minutes with each other. Kakashi and Naruto both knew how taken for granted time was, their own families having been taken from them at early ages, and they never wanted their daughter to question the closeness of her family. If something were to happen to one of them, they wanted her to know she was loved and have memories of their time together.

There was only one thing wrong with tonight's routine. Little Uzumaki Namiko was unusually fretful and rebellious. It took Naruto thirty minutes to get her to choose a bedtime story and even longer for the girl to get comfortable beside him. Naruto's patience was wearing thin by the time he finally started reading. He didn't hold it against his little Nami, though. He knew exactly why she was being so difficult, because of the absence of a very important silver haired woman.

After the birth of their daughter, Kakashi cut back on the number of extended missions she did, especially those that involved months of espionage or tracking outside of the village. Not because of a decrease in skill, but because she honestly didn't want to leave Nami alone that long. Motherhood, and the maternal feelings associated with it, hadn't come easily to Kakashi. She just wasn't the type of person to kiss 'boo-boos' and make baby talk. Not to say she wasn't a good mother, because she was, but she wasn't the traditional mother. Kakashi had a damn good pack mentality, mostly from traits picked up from her and her father's summons, and that was what helped her get comfortable with Nami. Despite the less than adoring feelings Kakashi had towards the thought of being a mother, Kakashi never let Nami doubt her love for her. She may not be the type of mother to cry over a skinned knee, but she was the type to do anything within her power to make her child happy. She loved Namiko. There was no doubt in Naruto's mind about that.

"Daddy?"

Naruto furrowed his brow as he was pulled from his thoughts and looked down at his daughter. "Yeah baby?"

"What's p-pro-pro..."

"Prostrate?"

The light blonde, nearly silver, head of hair bobbed enthusiastically at the word. Naruto grinned as he leaned over and brushed a kiss against the top of that wild mess of hair before tapping a finger against the word and shrugging. "We'll just have to ask Mama about that one too. She's got the brains in this relationship."

The little girl rose up on her knees and hugged Naruto's arm. "That's 'kay Daddy, I love you anyway."

Naruto's heart melted inside his chest as he wrapped an arm around his little girl and hugged her tightly. "I love you too, Nami."

He let her go long enough to tuck her back underneath her covers and reopen the book to the page they were on. "Okay, now where were we? Oh, right here."

Naruto dramatically cleared from throat before continuing on with the story. "The knight growled in irritation at the old wizard. 'You stupid old man! Don't you know that your magic won't save the princess?'"

"Daddy?"

Naruto stopped reading again and looked once more down at the child by his side; sometimes he cursed his child's inquisitive nature. "Something wrong?"

Nami shook her head once before blushing slightly and nodding.

"What's wrong baby?"

"How come the princess needs saving? Can't she save herself?"

Of course, he had forgotten he was dealing with Kakashi's child. The woman hated whenever he read the 'save the princess' stories to their little Namiko, because she didn't want them to promote a sense of helplessness in their daughter. Naruto didn't worry about his little Nami, though; she was a spitfire and would give the world hell before she let them put her into some dainty mold. Even now, whenever she and a few of her friends from daycare would get together and play ninja, she'd fight them tooth and nail whenever they tried to make her play the damsel in distress. The last time Naruto picked her up from daycare, he caught her glaring daggers at Iruka and Ayame's son, Kaimu, while declaring she was going to be the ninja and if he wanted to play with her then he'd get used to it.

As much as he hated to see the look of betrayal in those blue eyes, Naruto made her apologize to the other boy and take a turn as the damsel. Not that he wanted his daughter to be weak or anything, but he figured she did need the lesson in sharing. She would take her turn, just like everybody else, even if it were begrudgingly.

Naruto looked back down at his daughter and sighed deeply. It looked like he was going to have to start improvising again or she'd give him that look she learned from watching Tsunade. The same look the ex-Hokage developed for whenever he did something she didn't like and wanted him to change it. "She can, but we haven't gotten that far yet."

"Really?" His daughter looked up at him with a skeptical eye, almost daring him to lie to her. She looked so much like her mother whenever she did that.

The blond haired man nodded in complete seriousness. "Really."

* * *

It wasn't long after Naruto continued the story that Nami fell asleep. He really couldn't blame her; it was well past her bedtime. She had been hoping to see her mom before falling asleep for the night, but her luck hadn't held out. Kakashi arrived home just a scant twenty minutes after Nami entered the land of dreams and Naruto wouldn't dare wake her up. He followed the tired kunoichi into their bedroom and watched as she began to undress, haphazardly kicking her dirty pants into a corner.

Kakashi hadn't changed much in the last seven years. She still carried that damnable orange book around and she still stole the breath out of Naruto's lungs whenever she smiled. Only now, she usually had a little helper hanging around her. Namiko thought her mother hung the moon and despite the fact that Kakashi found it hard to relate to their daughter in the beginning, she worked it out. She worked it out so wonderfully that Naruto had to think back awfully hard in order to remember the first few tense months after Kakashi found out she was carrying their daughter. Naruto hated to admit it, but Kakashi having a daughter instead of a son was partially the cause for the tension during her pregnancy. Having a daughter brought back those old insecurities and fears. She dreaded the day would come that one of her enemies would hurt her daughter in the way her mother had been hurt. It was something that kept Kakashi up at night in the beginning and the reason Kakashi insisted they start training their daughter as soon as they could.

At first Naruto had been apprehensive about stealing a part of their child's childhood so early, but he understood it was necessary in order to protect her. He had enemies too that would hurt her so she needed to be prepared. He just wished she hadn't taken to her training as well as she did. She was definitely her mother's child in brains, but she was also his child in strength and chakra. She took to her shinobi training like a fish to water and Naruto could feel the eyes of the village on her. There was already talk of her being her generation's prodigy and that terrified Naruto because he saw what the overbearing eyes of the village could do to their prodigies. It never ended well for the shinobi in question and he never wanted his daughter to be broken before she'd had a chance to live.

A single dark eye glanced over at her daydreaming husband as she pulled her long-sleeved shirt off and tossed her fingerless gloves into the growing pile of clothes in the corner of the room. He was thinking awfully hard at the moment and just looked like he needed a distraction. Kakashi pulled off her hitai-ate, leaving her in only her mesh undershirt and the boxers she still preferred to wear over female panties. With a slight grin on her face and a skip in her step, Kakashi walked over to Naruto and pushed him onto the bed, effectively waking him out of his stupor as she straddled his hips and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Such a bad example you are for your shinobi, letting your guard down like that."

Naruto smiled up her cheekily as his hands gripped her hips, fingers dipping mischievously below the waistband to rub a suggestive circle onto the smooth skin there with his thumbs. "I don't have to worry about anyone hurting me. I've got my best shinobi in the room with me. You'd kill anyone before they even got a chance to look at me wrong."

Kakashi smirked as she stood up to finish undressing. "You're right about that. I'm going to take a shower." The silver haired woman teasingly looked back as she pulled the mesh undershirt off and tossed it at Naruto's feet. "Wanna join me?"

The man couldn't say 'no' even if he wanted to. He followed her like an obedient puppy into the bathroom connected to the master bedroom. "Yes ma'am."

Shortly before Nami was born, the family left behind Kakashi's tiny one bedroom apartment and built a nice three bedroom house on the outside of the village, coincidently on what used to be Hatake lands. Shortly after Hatake Sakumo's death, Kakashi moved in with Minato and in a fit of anger sold the lands and majestic house that had been in the Hatake family for generations. It wasn't something she regretted 'til years later, because at the time a confused little girl was trying to hold everything together while keeping up a strong, male facade. She would never be able to get all the lands back, but having few acres back was better than nothing. At least Minato was able to convince her to clear the house out before they tore it down, or she'd have another thing to add to her ever growing list of things she felt guilty about.

Kakashi sighed as she turned on the shower and ran a hand through her hair. She regretted selling the lands now, but there was nothing she could do about it. The family that owned the lands made good money raising crops and regrettably refused to sell back to her. She had tried once after the Pein invasion to buy them back and the grandfather of the family was understanding enough to let her buy back a few acres, but not the entire thing. It pained her to see the lands her father loved so much belong to someone else, but her childhood mistake couldn't be undone this time, just like so many of the other mistakes she'd made as a child.

Stepping into the steaming water was like heaven for Kakashi and the sudden feel of Naruto's arms wrapping around her waist just made her feel like she home. It was the perfect thing to ground her after hard missions. Leaning back, trusting the man behind her to support her weight, Kakashi closed her eyes and let the water pelt her chilled skin. It stung slightly, but it reminded her that she was alive, as did the suddenly roaming hand across her front. Naruto must have sensed the melancholy air around her. He was excellent at reading her moods and knew exactly how and when to take her mind off of whatever was bothering her.

"Naruto."

"Hmm?"

"Go a little bit lower and I'll reward you."

She could feel him grin against her neck as he readjusted his grip around her waist and slyly slid his free hand up her body to finish the teasing of her breasts. He only grinned wider whenever he heard the impatient whine in the back of Kakashi's throat.

"I said lower."

Smirking, Naruto sharply nipped the shoulder in front of him. "I never did listen to orders very well."

Kakashi could only ball her fists up in delightful frustration as Naruto's fingertips trailed ever so slightly down her abdomen before shooting right back up to tug and pinch her nipples. "You're such an asshole."

The blond haired man chuckled huskily as he moved his head to rest his mouth right beside her ear. Tugging gently on her earlobe with his incisors, Naruto growled as he finally gave Kakashi the relief she wanted. Caressing that glorious spot that turned the silver haired woman in his arms into jello, he waited 'til her breathing came out in shallow pants and her body jerked slightly before pulling away, much to the frustration of the woman now pinning him against the shower wall. The blond haired man barely had time to grin as she instantly closed the gap between their lips.

Fast, furious, strong, hot, their kisses always left him with a sense of want and loss. He couldn't get enough, but at the same time he knew he'd never be able to get enough. It was a conflicting situation for his poor libido. Pulling back and swiftly switching their positions, Naruto took the moment to marvel at the woman pressed against his chest. He took in her hazy eyes and the chill bumps running down her arms from her back hitting the cool tile of the shower. Nothing was more beautiful at that moment than watching her roll her eye before kissing him once more. Smiling into the kiss, Naruto reached down and hooked Kakashi's leg around his waist, levering himself for the perfect angle.

Of course, life tended to love to throw Naruto curveballs. Just as he was inches from satisfying himself and the impatient woman in his arms, a tiny voice echoed in the bathroom.

"Daddy?"

Both pairs of eyes widened as Kakashi disappeared in a poof of smoke and Naruto tumbled to the wet shower floor. Cursing his wife and the shower floor, Naruto pulled himself up and groped for the towel hanging on the towel rack. Wrapping it around his waist, Naruto stepped out of the shower to see a sleepy-eyed Nami standing in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Go get in Mama and Daddy's bed, baby."

Nami barely nodded before walking out of the doorway, rubbing her eyes with her fists. Naruto hastily pulled on his boxers and a pair of sweatpants before walking out of the bathroom to see Nami curled up on their bed and Kakashi silently pulling on an oversized t-shirt. She turned and winked at him as she used the towel to finish drying her hair.

Whispering so the little girl on the bed wouldn't be disturbed, Naruto pulled the covers back on the bed and settled his daughter in. "Where did you go?"

Kakashi shrugged as she turned to watch him as he gently petted back Nami's hair. "I just popped into the office 'til I was certain she was asleep. If she sees me now then she's never going to go back to sleep."

Naruto nodded in understanding before turning to watch Kakashi stretch out her limbs. He also couldn't help but admire the way her butt looked in those boxers. "I'm guessing our fun's over for the night."

Kakashi snorted from across the room as she tossed the wet towel on top of her dirty clothes, "which is completely your fault."

Naruto scoffed before picking up one of the pillows and playfully tossing it at her, "can't blame me for wanting to take my time. I haven't seen you in three weeks."

"Blame the Hokage for that one," Kakashi grinned as the man pouted, "'cause he's the reason I had to go."

"I was not the reason! You're just damn good at what you do. I would have sent Asuma, but Kurenai threatened to put me in a genjutsu and we both know I'd never find my way out of it."

Kakashi had to muffle her laughter so it wouldn't wake up their slumbering daughter, "poor Naruto and his genjutsu issues."

The blond haired man shrugged before sitting on the edge of the bed and smiling softly. "I did promise to make it up to you and I will, don't worry. Believe it."

The woman turned around and leered at her husband, a brilliant idea buzzing around in her head. "That you did Uzumaki. Nami's asleep, and not waking up for a while, so make good on your promise."

Naruto's eyes widened in outrage as he jumped off the bed and shook his head. "Not while Nami's in the room!"

"No you idiot! The office is free." Kakashi switched off the light before moving to the door. "Come along, Naruto, we haven't properly broken in the desk yet."

His lips twitched up into a smile as he tiptoed out of the room and lightly shut the door, hoping it would block any stray sounds from waking Nami up. His blue eyes suddenly bright as he watched the gentle sway of her hips as she walked down the hall and into the office.

"Here I come, Kakashi-chan."

* * *

A few hours later, the happily sated couple made their way back to their room. Being as quiet as they could, the two slipped into bed beside their slumbering daughter. Instantly, the little girl curled up against Kakashi's front and buried her face into her mother's chest. Kakashi grinned herself as she reached and brushed a stray lock of hair away from Nami's face. Sometimes, Kakashi felt this strange sense of accomplishment whenever she thought about the way her life turned out. Eight years ago, if anyone would have told her that one day she'd be the wife of Uzumaki Naruto and the doting mother of one destructive little terror with dark blue eyes and fair hair, she would have laughed right in their face. Of course, eight years ago, Kakashi was still lying to herself and most of Konoha.

"What are you thinking so hard about over there?"

The single dark eye flickered up long enough to connect with the smoldering blue one before closing. "Thanking the gods above she looks more like me than you."

Naruto faked a wounded look as he clutched his heart and shook his head. "You wound me with your harsh words woman."

Kakashi chuckled, the sudden movement jolting Namiko awake long enough to twist in her sleep and curl closer to Naruto. "You'll live, unless you wake her up."

Naruto snorted as he leaned over and kissed Kakashi goodnight. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm so scared."

"You better be." Her tone softened as she smiled at him. "Good night Naruto."

Naruto laid there for a few more minutes, his family beside him and safe, before turning and looking at his wife, who was still staring intently at the ceiling. "You're still wound up from your mission."

She shrugged nonchalantly as she met his eyes with her own. "Just can't sleep."

Naruto slowly got out of bed and held out his hand for his wife. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen."

"Naruto, I'll be fine. I've suffered from insomnia before, but you, my dear, need your sleep or it'll be hell trying to get up in the morning to go to work."

Naruto scrunched up his nose in denial as he lazily pulled Kakashi out of the bed. "Nah, come on. I'll make you some tea like I used to when you were pregnant and couldn't sleep."

Reluctantly, Kakashi followed her husband down the hall and into the kitchen. Their house wasn't overly huge, nor was it small, being only one story, it wasn't advanced in anyway, but it was cozy and all theirs. The design of the house was a joint effort on both of their parts, Naruto going off of what he used to dream about as a lonely orphan and Kakashi working off of her memories of her childhood home. Strangely enough, the blend of ideas and tastes mixed perfectly together to create a place uniquely theirs, to create a place they could call home.

The two bedroom house was modest in size, but extravagant in detail. Naruto had an eye for details and Kakashi liked unusual things, so together they ended up with a house that included several rare amenities. There was an entire dojo built in the back of the house, complements of Kakashi getting tired of dragging Naruto home after he trained himself into unconsciousness and connected to the dojo was a bathroom modeled to look like a hot spring, complements of Naruto getting tired of Kakashi trying to talk him into inappropriate relations in the bathhouse.

"Any particular flavor tonight?"

Kakashi shook her head as she propped up her feet on the table. "Surprise me."

The blond haired man hummed softly to himself as he began to boil the water for the tea. Tea, especially relaxing tea, was perfect for small talk. Naruto knew making small talk about the mission would clear out Kakashi's hammering mind and put his own worries at rest. Usually it was only bad missions that made his Scarecrow like this. "How was the mission?"

Kakashi hummed in response, "as boring as I expected it would be."

"That's refreshing. I thought something had gone wrong."

"Do you want the report now?"

Naruto shook his head as the teakettle began whistling. "Nope, I'm off the clock." He poured her a cup full of chamomile tea and walked over to hand it to her before taking his own seat. "I was just curious as to why you're so tense tonight."

The single grey eye snapped up to meet his with just a touch of mischief in them. "You haven't heard yet?"

Sensing the suddenly serious change in the atmosphere, Naruto sat his own cup of tea down and shook his head. "No? What is it?"

"Gai was nearly killed by one of his clients."

Naruto's blue eyes widened slightly before looking away from the jounin in front of him. "Oh, that."

"So you knew?"

Naruto shrugged as he sipped his tea. "I did."

Kakashi groaned as she ran a hand over her eyes. She didn't like Gai and never would, but this was something she would have liked to have known. "When did it happen?"

"A day after you left. How did you find out?"

The blond haired man blinked in surprise as the woman stood up and walked over to the window to peer into the darkness. "The guards at the gate were talking about it whenever I walked into the village."

A delicate blond eyebrow raised as the man took another drink of his tea. "Calm down Kakashi. It's not like Konoha was in any danger. The woman didn't take kindly to being beaten by Gai and after Gai underestimated her, she struck back."

Kakashi ignored the amusement in his voice. "Did she escape?"

Naruto shook his head. "No, never even made it out of the room. Killed on the spot while the medics tried to revive Gai. She really did a number on him, but he's expected to live." The unspoken 'unfortunately' hung between them as Kakashi massaged out her headache with the tips of her fingers.

"He's forever going to be one big pain-in-the-ass isn't he?"

Naruto snorted in laughter before pushing his cup of tea away and walking over to wrap his arms around his wife. "Forget about him, he's not worth worrying yourself over."

The silver haired woman sighed as she laid her arms over the ones wrapped around her waist. Ever so slightly, she intertwined their fingers together. "I wasn't worrying over him. I just didn't want to talk about him while Nami was in the room. I figured it could wait 'til morning, but you had to be difficult."

Naruto squeezed her hand before bringing it up to his lips to kiss. "No one will ever treat Nami like Gai treated you. I'll kill them before they ever have the chance."

Kakashi chuckled as she removed her hand from Naruto's and gently stroked his cheek. "I know, but I don't want the name 'Gai' to even be a part of her vocabulary."

"I understand, but…"

Suddenly, the sound of small feet hurrying down the hallway caught both of their attentions and brought the conversation to an end. Standing there in green pajamas and clutching her favorite stuffed frog was little wide-eyed Namiko.

"Nami?"

The little girl in question rubbed both of her eyes as she walked into the bright light of the kitchen.

"Mama?"

Kakashi smiled as her daughter quickly ran over and collided with her leg, hugging her mother's leg as tightly as she could. The silver haired woman reached down and lifted Nami into her arms. Instantly, those little arms wrapped tightly around her mother as Nami buried her face into the crook of Kakashi's neck. Though her voice was muffled, Kakashi could hear the distinct relief in her voice. "You're home."

The silver haired female nodded before reaching over and running her fingers through the slightly tangled hair of her four-year-old. The arms tightened around her neck in a vice grip as the little voice sighed in her ear.

"I am, but what are you doing up? Come on; let's go put you back into your bed."

Dark blue eyes widen as the little girl pulled back to look at her. Her lips set into a pout, hoping that a combination of the puppy-dog eyes and the over exaggerated pout would win her just a few more minutes of being up past her bedtime. Kakashi wasn't one to fall for her daughter's doe eyes, though. Too many years of being a shinobi had hardened her to those cute little looks.

Naruto, on the other hand, fell for them every time.

The silver haired woman figured her husband's lenient attitude came from the fact that Naruto had been wrapped around their daughter's finger since the day she was born. Too many years of dreaming of a family made Naruto a very doting father. Kakashi could still remember the day she found out she was pregnant. Naruto couldn't have been happier while Kakashi did a lot of pretending. It wasn't that she didn't want a child; it was the fact that she didn't know how to be a mother to a child, especially not a little girl.

Despite that, she grew to love her child and the changes that came with her. Her pride wouldn't let her admit it out loud, but conceiving her daughter was the hardest thing she'd ever done in her entire life. Even joining ANBU was easier then bringing their little bundle of joy into the world. It was also the most rewarding because of how hard it was to conceive. Their problems with conceiving weren't exactly pinpointed to a specific factor, multiple factors came into play.

Kakashi begrudgingly agreed to marry Naruto the year he was appointed Hokage. Tradition declared that if a Hokage was married while in office then the affair had to be a grand, elegant affair with invitations to several feudal lords and clan heads. In other words, the Hokage's marriage was supposed to be a time to show off Konoha and possibly strengthen bonds between villages.

Kakashi turned a blind eye to all of this.

Being the kickass thirty-six-year-old woman she was, Kakashi demanded they elope instead of going through the process of having a big ceremony and Naruto agreed. With the help of Iruka and Yugao, Kakashi and Naruto disappeared from Konoha long enough to marry in the capital of Fire Nation and have a short honeymoon before all hell broke loose with the officials. Whenever Tsunade and the other officials found out the next morning they were pissed, but the couple didn't care. Naruto finally had Kakashi all to himself and Kakashi was just happy she didn't have to wear a kimono.

Plus, they were finally was getting the family they both deserved after so many years of being alone.

Nearly immediately after their wedding, Naruto started dropping hints about his desire to have children. He wasn't being obnoxious about it, but he knew the clock was ticking. All he wanted was one child that bore both his and her blood, one thing he could call his, but Kakashi was apprehensive about having a child. Though she had gotten over all of her fears, the thought of children still didn't sit well with her. She just wasn't the nurturing kind, but Naruto wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. Eventually Kakashi got tired of hearing him dramatically sigh whenever he saw a small child around the village and agreed to have a baby with him.

That began an uphill battle that Kakashi wasn't sure she could win.

It wasn't 'til an entire year of trying morphed into a year-and-a-half that the couple began to think something was wrong. They had been trying as often as they could and kept coming up empty. As the second year rolled around, Kakashi nearly gave up and was beginning to accept the fact that she had either waited too long to start a family or that her seal had somehow messed with her fertility. It was a chilling realization, one that led her to spend a lot of cold nights pounding away at the training targets in one of the training grounds.

Naruto never lost hope, though. He was convinced that it would happen whenever they were ready for it to happen. Really, Naruto's determination and pure stubbornness saved her from losing all hope. It was shortly after that when Kakashi's menstrual cycle stopped. At first Kakashi feared that, like everything else she had done in life, she was entering menopause at an early age. Imagine her surprise whenever the medic-nin informed her she was pregnant, not pre-menopausal.

Luckily for them, getting pregnant was the end of their battle.

Her pregnancy was relatively normal with only one major scare. Two months into her pregnancy Kakashi was rushed to the hospital with severe cramps and bleeding. Luckily, she didn't miscarry, but was immediately put on observation. The word itself almost brought tears to Kakashi's eyes because she knew it meant weeks of being stuck in the hospital and she was right. The next few weeks were torture for her as she tried to deal with an overprotective Naruto, the sheer boredom that quickly set in, and the fact that she was stuck in a hospital. Somehow, Kakashi made it through and was taken off of observation after her twelfth week mark, coincidently, it was the same day she heard her daughter's heartbeat for the first time.

What an experience that was, with Naruto impatiently waiting to find out the sex and Kakashi just wanting to get the bone chilling gel off her stomach. Initially, Naruto had been disappointed after Tsunade told him the gender couldn't be determined yet, but hearing that steady beat from the ultrasound machine was more than enough to make him happy again. It was also more than enough to make Kakashi swell with emotions, the child she thought she was going to lose had a healthy heartbeat and was doing just fine. If she weren't a shinobi, she would have cried, and though Naruto swore up and down her grey eye watered, she would never admit to tearing up over that moment, despite how amazing it was.

After that, her pregnancy progressed normally. She hit all her milestones and for once in her life followed a medic nin's orders to the 't'. Then at twenty weeks her happiness was replaced with tension when she found out she was having a daughter instead of a son, not that she didn't want a daughter, but having a daughter opened up a whole can of worms she still didn't know how to deal with. At night Kakashi would stay awake wondering how she was going to raise a daughter after spending nearly all of her life masquerading as a man. She feared that she would somehow give her child a complex without meaning to.

Naruto was right there for her every step of the way. He didn't know it, but those late night tea sessions really helped her think. She paid for it later whenever the caffeine kept the baby kicking her during the night, but she was able to work through her issues and actually look forward to raising a daughter. It was her chance to show herself that she could raise a girl without imposing limits on her. From that point on, Kakashi had a relatively easy pregnancy. Yes, she had some embarrassing symptoms, like the sudden gas and her leaky breasts, but nothing serious happened to her during the latter months of her pregnancy.

The birthing part wasn't something Kakashi liked to look back on. All the books Tsunade made her read didn't prepare her for what really went on during labor. Not even her ANBU training prepared her for the pain. The excruciating pain was like nothing she'd ever experienced before and when she finally got drugs she was too out of it to care. Kakashi did remember at one point mumbling out that they should develop a genjutsu that mimicked childbirth for T&I to use. The pain alone would get anyone to talk.

Despite the pain, sixteen hours later, Kakashi and Naruto welcomed into the world their only child. At six pounds even, little Uzumaki Namiko, their little blessing, came into the world screaming bloody murder.

The same little blessing that was currently pouting up at her with watery eyes. Kakashi could easily resist those eyes. She had to be the strong one or they would have found themselves proud owners of whatever new and exotic animal their daughter found during her adventures around the village.

"Don't give me that look. You know it only works on your father. Tomorrow you've got a very busy day and you need your sleep."

Naruto chuckled as he got out of his chair and walked over to pull Nami into his arms. "Come on sweetheart, Mama's right, you've got a very busy day tomorrow."

Tomorrow, despite Naruto's fears, Nami was taking the Academy Entrance Exam. It was popular gossip around the village because everyone expected Nami to be the next prodigy. Nami was smarter than most four-year-olds and could do things most four-year-olds couldn't, but she was still a four-year-old child. Naruto wanted her to stay as innocent and carefree for as long as she could.

Nami pouted once more as she looked between her parents in defeat. "Fine." She scrambled down from Naruto's hold and took off towards her room, not before stopping and running back to where her parents were at. "Mama, what's endeavor and prostrate mean?"

Kakashi furrowed her brows in confusion as she looked up at Naruto. "Endeavor means to make an effort to achieve something and prostrate means lying down."

Silvery blond hair flew around the girl's head as she nodded her head and stumbled back towards her room. Kakashi looked at Naruto with a smirk on her face. "Endeavor and prostrate?"

Naruto flailed his arms in frustration as he headed back towards the master bedroom. "It was in the story and I didn't know what they meant. Honestly, what kind of children's story uses words like endeavor and prostrate?"

Kakashi chuckled as she followed behind Naruto, clicking the kitchen lights off as she passed the light switch. "You're getting a dictionary for your next birthday."

The blond haired man leered back at his wife. "Will you play the naughty secretary then?"

The silver haired woman wrapped her arms around Naruto's waist as she shrugged and gave him a wicked smirk. "Sure you wouldn't want me to play naughty sensei instead?"

"Nope, why desire something I've always had? You've always been my naughty sensei."

Kakashi muffled her laughter into Naruto's shoulder as she pinched his side. "That was so corny. We're going to need to work on your one-liners."

"Yes sensei."

* * *

Naruto tore out of the house the next morning, promising he'd clear his lunch schedule to hear how Nami did. Kakashi just watched him clumsily slip on his sandals before running over to kiss Nami on the forehead and pull Kakashi up for a lingering kiss to take with him to the office.

Kakashi rolled her eye before pushing him away and shooing him out the door. "The council already thinks I'm a bad influence on you. Go, now."

Naruto gave her a mock salute before disappearing from the doorway, leaving behind a chuckling Kakashi and a grinning Nami.

The silver haired woman turned to Nami as she leaned against the kitchen counter. "Go on and get dressed. We've got to leave here in a few minutes."

"Yes ma'am!"

Nami quickly stuffed the last of her breakfast into her mouth before hopping down from her chair and running back into her room. Leaving Kakashi to clear the plates off of the table and toss the dishes into the sink.

"I'm ready!"

Kakashi turned around and vehemently shook her head as she saw her daughter in the lime green version of Naruto's old jumpsuit. At that moment, Kakashi was convinced that her daughter was trying to give her a permanent twitch over her right eye. "No way in Hell. Go change."

The little girl stood her ground as she placed her hands on her hips and shook her head. "Daddy picked it out. He said he had one like it when he was in the Academy!"

"Your father also barely passed the Academy. Now go change."

"But Mama!"

"Now Namiko."

The girl huffed, but did as she was told. Kakashi rubbed a hand through her hair, wondering if she was ever this difficult as a child.

"Is this better?"

Kakashi turned and smiled underneath her mask as she nodded. The girl stood there in sensible black pants and a slightly darker green shirt.

"Better. Come on, we're already late."

Nami raced forward and grasped her mother's hand, grinning up at the taller woman, "but you're always late, Mama."

Kakashi grinned down at her daughter before pulling up her mask. "You know me so well."

* * *

A few hours later, Kakashi leaned against the Academy wall reading her favorite orange book as she waited for her daughter's test to finish. She was just at the part where the main character traps his saucy lover in her bathroom when the sound of feet coming down the hallway caught her attention. She looked up to see Iruka and Namiko walking down the hall.

Iruka was one of the best Academy sensei Konoha had to offer. No one could beat his knowledge of the shinobi arts or the kind heart he possessed. It was Iruka all those many years ago that loved Naruto first and nurtured the boy into the man Kakashi grew to love.

"Kakashi, it's good to see you again."

Kakashi nodded to Iruka as Nami stood expectantly between them. "Yo, Iruka. Everything fine on your part?"

"Yes, this time of year it gets particularly busy with so many new students coming in for testing. Speaking of testing, would you like to hear Namiko's results now or later with Naruto?"

Kakashi looked down at her daughter's expectant face before nodding her head. "I'll hear them now. I'm sure Naruto's already requested a copy of her results be sent to him. Nami, go outside and play." Nami pouted slightly at being told to go play, but she didn't argue. "Lead the way, Sensei."

Iruka took Kakashi into the same Academy room where Kakashi first met Team Seven. She smiled underneath her mask as she thought back on the depressed faces whenever she informed them she hated them.

"Please sit, Kakashi, we have much to discuss."

Kakashi's smile turned into a frown nearly instantly at Iruka's tone of voice. "Was there something wrong with Nami's test results?"

Iruka sighed deeply as he shuffled the papers in front of him. "No, Nami scored nearly perfect on every exam we gave her from practical to written. She's definitely her mother's daughter, but she's so young, Kakashi. Are you and Naruto making the right decision by letting her enter the Academy at such a young age?"

"Nami's not that far off from her fifth birthday. Yes, she'll be younger than most, but I find it more damaging to her education to keep her out. She'll be fine, Iruka, you worry too much."

"You don't worry enough, Kakashi. I don't want her to become an outcast because of her age. Children can be cruel, even more so whenever a famous parent, or parents in Nami's case, is involved."

Kakashi fingered the edge of her book through her pocket. It was a nervous habit she developed years ago and never quite broke. "I know all about cruel children, Iruka, but you're forgetting that Nami is also Naruto's daughter. She never meets a stranger and I doubt that will be any different here."

"I still worry about her happiness when you're removing her from her friends at the daycare. She isn't going to know anybody here and I fear she'll have problems adjusting."

"Iruka, if it'll make you feel better, I say we let Nami try the Academy for the first few weeks and if she seems to have trouble adjusting we'll pull her out. Deal?"

Iruka sighed deeply before nodding and breaking out into an uneasy and forced grin. "Well, according to the test results, Nami's more than ready to enter the Academy. She does show slightly below average taijutsu skills, but she is only four-years-old. It's up to you and Naruto to decide if she'll be enrolled come the next semester."

Kakashi nodded as she stood up and waved bye to Iruka. "You already know my answer. See you later, Sensei."

* * *

Kakashi wasn't one of those mothers that kept her child on a short leash whenever they walked through the village. The silver haired woman had seen other women scowl in disapproval at her while Nami idly walked a few paces beside her or behind her. Kakashi didn't care, though, because Nami knew she wasn't to go too far from Kakashi's side. Of course, every once in a while the little girl was stubborn enough to go off further than she was supposed to, but that rarely happened and when it did, Nami always found her way back.

Today was no different. The duo was walking to go see Naruto at the Hokage Tower. It had become a common occurrence for Kakashi to drag Naruto home for lunch whenever his schedule was clear. She claimed it was so he wouldn't use that hour as an excuse to eat only ramen, Naruto liked to think it was because she wanted to see him during the middle of the day. Neither would admit the other was right.

Kakashi walked down the lane with her eyes on her book and the conscious knowing that Namiko was walking just a few feet behind her.

"Kakashi-sempai!"

The silver haired woman looked up from her book and eye-smiled at Yamato. "Yo, Yamato!"

Of course, while Kakashi was talking to the man with the funny eyes, Nami innocently followed a little hopping frog into a back alley. She continued following the little frog until she was far away from her mother's side. It wasn't until she noticed she was on the outskirts of the market that Nami even realized she didn't know where she was.

A shadow engulfed the young girl causing her to look up and into the green eyes of a pink haired woman.

* * *

"How's Yugao?"

Kakashi grinned underneath her mask as she watched the younger man blush before looking away. It wasn't common knowledge, but Uzuki Yugao was currently on the inactive list because of a sudden surprise pregnancy. All thanks to the man in front of her.

Yamato coughed before trying to fight down his blush. "She's good. She hasn't had any morning sickness yet, but she's already anticipating it by threatening me at every turn. Some days I think she's going to kill me."

Kakashi patted Yamato's arm. "Don't worry, as long as you do what she says she's not going to kill you, at least not 'til the delivery room."

The brown haired man only glared at his sempai before his attention was caught by the sight of the littlest Uzumaki wandering off.

"Senpai, Nami just disappeared down that back alley."

Kakashi sighed as she looked behind her to see the ends of Nami's hair disappearing down the alley.

"She's her father's daughter, Tenzo, stubborn as they come. Something you'll have to look forward to in a few years."

Yamato rolled his eyes at being called 'Tenzo,' hearing her greet him as 'Yamato' had given the man hope that she had outgrown calling him by 'Tenzo.' "Are you going to go after her?"

Kakashi shook her head as her eyes followed a blur racing over the roofs of the buildings to her left. "The ANBU are on her right now. No harm will come to her."

"Kakashi."

Kakashi and Yamato turned to see Anko walking towards them; she nodded to Yamato before turning towards Kakashi.

"Nami's three blocks away talking with your ex-student."

Kakashi eye-smiled at Yamato. "See? Nami's well protected." She turned to Anko as she pointed in the direction Nami went. "Is Sakura doing anything?"

"Nope, just talking to her and trying to get her to go with her. Apparently Sakura thinks no one knows where she's at."

Kakashi snorted as she started walking towards the back alley. "I guess that's noble of her. Good to hear she might have grown up in the past few years. I'd hate to find out she's still spouting nonsense about Naruto and I."

Anko flinched, remembering all too well her part in Kakashi's de-masking years ago. It had taken a while for her to get over the guilt she harbored over the entire situation. In fact, it had taken Naruto seeking her out and inviting her to supper with them for the woman to fully get over her guilt. It was during this supper that Naruto thanked her, with Kakashi rolling her eyes at her lover, for being the spark that ignited the fire that led to Kakashi's de-masking.

Though Naruto wanted Kakashi's revealing to go smoother than it did, he acknowledged the fact that Anko was only doing her job. Not very many people could tell the Council 'no' and he understood she did what she had to do. It was then that Anko offered to try and make it up to the couple in any way possible. Naruto and Kakashi both laughed it off at the time, but a few years later, after the birth of their daughter, they took her up on her offer.

For some reason Anko couldn't fathom, they trusted her. They trusted her enough to be the leader of the ANBU team that guarded their daughter. Namiko was her sole duty and she did her job very well.

Shortly after Namiko's first birthday, one of the old diehards that still believed Naruto to be nothing more than a demon paid off a mercenary to kill the 'demon spawn.' The man hired was actually pretty good at his job. He waited 'til Kakashi left for a two-day mission to the capital and Naruto, after a long night of taking care of a teething baby, was passed out on the couch in the living room before striking. Anko and her subordinates managed to stop the would-be assassin just as he entered the perimeter of the house without ever waking Naruto or the baby up.

"Anko."

Anko shifted her eyes over to see Kakashi tilting her head at her in confusion.

"What?"

Kakashi only shrugged as she pulled her favorite book out of her pocket. "You just looked a little lost in thought there."

Anko smirked as she shrugged. "Nah, just thinking." She looked overhead to see one of her men signaling her. "Well, I've got to run. Nami's up ahead."

"Thanks, Anko."

The woman disappeared with a nod.

* * *

The pink haired woman blinked down at Nami before squatting before the girl and picking up the little toad to place in Namiko's hands.

"Namiko, where are your Mom and Dad?"

Nami shrugged and tried to look calm in front of this stranger as she clutched the little toad close to her chest.

"It's not safe for you to be on this side of the village alone. Come, on, let's go find them."

Nami shook her head as she stepped away from the woman. "Daddy said I should never go with strangers. Mama said they would hurt me."

The woman looked sad for a minute before grinning and reaching for the little girl's hand. "I'm Haruno Sakura, have your Mom and Dad ever mentioned me?"

Nami shook her head again as she moved away from the hand, still untrusting of the woman.

Sakura's eyes lowered to the ground with an emotion Nami couldn't name. "Oh. I supposed there is too much bad blood between us. I used to be on a team with your Dad, your Mom used to be my sensei."

Nami blinked before remembering the photo her Daddy kept in the living room. "You're the pink haired girl from that photo!"

Sakura nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! See, we're not strangers at all."

Nami took a step away from Sakura, suddenly those blue eyes turned calculating. "I still have never met you. How do I know you're not a bad person? If you were so close to Mama and Daddy then why haven't I ever met you?"

"I made a mistake when I was young. I was jealous of what your parents had."

"Jealous of Mama and Daddy?"

Sakura nodded as she shifted her weight to the balls of her feet. "I didn't believe their love for each other was real and that they were only using each other. My stupidity cost me two great friends that I may never get back."

"Sakura."

The pink haired woman tensed before standing up and turning to look towards the female voice behind her. Nami quickly set down the frog before running from Sakura's side and latching onto Kakashi's leg, the woman patted her daughter's head once before turning to look at the pink haired woman.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi resisted the urge to roll her eye at the title. "I'm not your sensei anymore, Sakura."

"Old habits are hard to break."

The silver haired woman shrugged as Nami looked between them both with confusion in her eyes. Kakashi knew she needed to choose her words carefully or the little ears would pick them up awfully fast.

"You'd figure all those years of us not talking would have broken that habit, but apparently not."

Kakashi actually felt bad whenever she watched her ex-student's face fall at the dismissal in her voice and then she really felt bad whenever Nami poked her in the leg and frowned up at her. Kakashi mentally sighed as she unconsciously ran her fingers through Nami's hair.

"Thank you, Sakura, for watching over Namiko 'til I could come get her." Kakashi looked down at her daughter, noting how the little girl avoided her gaze. "She knows not to run off, but apparently she got her father's stubbornness."

A smile, genuine smile stretched across Sakura's face. "It was no problem. I couldn't let her stay over here by herself. You should also be very proud of her; she refused to go with me because I was a stranger."

Kakashi noticed the blush spreading across Nami's cheeks at the praise and nodded towards the woman. "At least she listened during that lesson."

Sakura chuckled to herself as Nami pouted at her mother's words. The pink haired woman sighed as she looked up at the sun rising high in the sky. "I'm nearly late for an appointment. It was good seeing you again, Kakashi, and it was nice meeting you, Namiko."

Nami waved 'bye' to the woman as Kakashi politely nodded her head. The two females were quiet for a few minutes, until Kakashi broke the heavy silence. "Namiko."

Nami's eyes lowered to the ground as she let out a weak 'ma'am.' She knew her mother was a tiny bit upset with her.

"Don't tell your father we saw her." Nami looked up in confusion as her mother reached down and grasped the smaller hand into her own.

"Are you gonna tell him?"

Kakashi turned and watched as Sakura disappeared down the road before nodding gently. "Later. I'll tell him later."

* * *

"Daddy?"

Naruto and the two jounin around his desk looked up as the little girl peeked around the door to his office. He grinned to himself as he dismissed the jounin and the ANBU in the walls in order to have his daily dose of family time.

"Come here, Nami."

The little girl waited 'til the jounin stepped around her, one even going as far as to ruffle her hair in passing, before taking across the room and jumping into her father's lap. Naruto wrapped his arms around her tightly before spinning her around in his lap to face him.

"How did your test go?"

Nami proudly puffed out her chest as she bragged about answering every question right and beating the older Academy student in a spar. Her little boast session was only ended when Kakashi languidly walked through the door and innocently mentioned that Iruka-sensei told a different story. Nami's cheeks colored as she looked between her mother and father. Naruto gave her a silly grin before mockingly frowning at Kakashi.

"You lie on my child!"

"No, I tell the truth. She's just like you were when you were young; making boasts that she can't exactly prove to be true. "

Naruto winked at Nami as he continued frowning at Kakashi. "I'll never believe it! If Nami said she beat the older Academy student, then she beat the older Academy student. Isn't that right, Nami?"

The child pouted openly as she looked back over at her silver haired Mama and shook her head. "I didn't beat the older Academy student."

Naruto overdramatically sighed as he squeezed Nami into a quick hug. "That's okay. I heard from Iruka-sensei that you did just fine, we'll just have to work on your taijutsu. Okay?"

"Okay, Daddy!"

"That's my girl! Now, go be adorably cute at the mission's desk with Konohamaru-oji while Mama and I take care of some business."

"Okay!"

Kakashi watched as Nami raced out of the door, she could already feel the ANBU guards trailing not too far behind her daughter. The silver haired woman turned to her husband and took in his grim face and even grimmer mood. She sighed as she walked over and placed herself into his lap, hoping to break him out of his funk.

"You're thinking awfully hard here, handsome. I thought we've already discussed how bad it is to overtax your brain."

He only grinned as he leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, but I sometimes needs things told to me more than once."

Kakashi softly chuckled before her eyes caught the picture of Nami on the edge of his desk. It reminded her of the Team Seven photo sitting in their living room.

"Nami wandered off earlier."

Naruto raised both of his eyebrows as he listened. "Yeah."

"She met up with Sakura."

Those blue eyes widened in shock as he took a deep breath. "Did Sakura do anything to hurt her? I swear I'll…"

"No," Kakashi interrupted him, "she tried to help her find one of us. I think it might be time to reunite what's left of Team Seven."

Naruto opened his mouth before closing it. He sighed deeply, thinking back over the last few years without Sakura. "I miss her, Sensei, I really do, but she hurt us so deeply."

"That she did, but she is our teammate and more importantly she was family to us both. I think we've held onto this for long enough."

"Maybe you're right. I'll send a message to her later."

Kakashi grinned underneath her mask as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck. "I'm sure she'll accept. She seemed more than willing to let go of the past earlier."

Naruto wrapped a single arm around Kakashi's waist as he buried his face into the crook of her neck. His voice was muffled, but Kakashi could hear him perfectly. "Are you feeling up to something?"

Kakashi leaned back to look her husband fully in the face. She could see the solemn serious lighting up Naruto's eyes, making them a piercing blue color. It sent shivers down her spine, and not the good shivers either.

"Depends on what you've got in mind."

Naruto sighed as he gently prodded Kakashi to stand up. "Nothing you're going to like."

Kakashi frowned underneath her mask as Naruto walked over to the window and opened it. With one leg outside on the ledge of the building, Naruto waved Kakashi over.

"Come on, we haven't got much time."

Kakashi followed him out of the window and down the side of the Hokage Tower. When they landed, Naruto automatically steered them into the alley beside the tower and right up to the hidden entrance to the ANBU headquarters. Kakashi raised a silver eyebrow at the man as he used the secret seal combination to open the door.

"What exactly are we doing here?"

"Gai took a turn for the worse early this morning. He died about an hour ago."

The silver haired woman frowned underneath her mask. "Am I supposed to care?"

"Nope, but Tenten, Lee and Neji said they needed some closure." Naruto locked eyes with the woman and gave her a small smile. "I think you need this closure too."

"Naru-"

"Kakashi, please, if you don't go for yourself then go for them."

Kakashi sighed in defeat. "Fine."

Naruto gave her a small smile as he gently pulled down her mask to softly kiss her lips.

* * *

Naruto left Kakashi in the waiting room with the three silent jounin while he went to see if the medics were finished preparing Gai's body. Kakashi really didn't want to be there, but in a way she knew Naruto was right. She did need the closure. The silver haired woman leaned against the wall with her orange book in hand as she discreetly watched the faces of Gai's onetime students.

Tenten had grown into a very confident woman. Unfortunately those early years with Gai still had a huge impact on the way she dressed and acted, but she looked happy with who she was. She even traded in her old loose white uniform top for a more formfitting feminine one. The girl was finally able to just be herself without having to worry if she would be told to sit out of training because she was dressed too 'girly.' Hell, Kakashi fully believed the only reason Tenten wasn't prepared for the Chunin Exams was because her ex-sensei hadn't liked the light pink top she wore as a child. It was a harsh reality, but Kakashi knew how Gai thought.

Kakashi hadn't exaggerated all those years ago whenever she explained to Naruto how cruel Gai was to his female student. Whenever Tenten donned on that light pink uniform he pushed her to the side and focused on Lee and Neji. It wasn't until she realized what he was doing that Tenten started acting tomboyish, in hopes that she could make him forget she was female.

It worked, but never well enough.

As Tenten sat in one of the hard plastic chairs in the waiting room, she thought back over her time with Gai. She supposed she could have told the Hokage, but Gai was excellent at fooling those around him. She wouldn't have stood a chance against his nice guy pose and bright smile. If it hadn't have been for her weapons and her teammates, Tenten was almost positive she wouldn't have made it to her current rank. She wanted so badly to hate Gai for how he sabotaged her potential, but she couldn't make herself hate him.

Hatred only brought about anger and anger poisoned the body. She didn't seek revenge for what he did to her when he was alive so there was really no point in hating him while he was dead.

Naruto stepped back into the waiting room with two ANBU escorts following close behind. "You can go in now."

The four jounin silently walked down the hall following behind Naruto. He led them into Gai's room before quietly stepping out. He threw a worried glance Kakashi's way, but the female ignored it in favor of looking at the covered up body on the bed.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen."

Her voice seemed out of place in the quiet room and Kakashi almost wished Gai would look up and sneer at her before calling her a bitch. He didn't, though, even as Kakashi walked closer to Gai's bed and touched one of the ropes still connected to his wrists. He had been strapped down with chakra absorbing ropes because the poison in his body made him go crazy and lash out at anyone near him. The medics hadn't been able to treat him 'til they managed to contain him. She quickly released the rope as she realized it was suppressing her own chakra.

Kakashi honestly didn't know how to feel about this moment. In the darker part of her mind, she recognized the fact that though she couldn't kill Gai, she could always take her frustration out on his body. She quickly shook those thoughts away. She wasn't that type of person. Though Gai was a pain-in-the-ass, she would respect the dead.

Tenten walked over to stand beside Kakashi as she took in Gai's pitiful form. "Am I a bad person for wishing I was here when he died? Am I a bad person for wanting to watch him suffer for everything he did to me?"

"No, it makes you an honest person. Gai deserved everything he got in life."

Tenten's eyes lowered to the floor before she let them rest on Gai's prone form.

"I wonder how he died."

Kakashi turned to Tenten as she reached down by the end of the bed and snatched up Gai's chart. "How about we see?" She flipped through the chart and barely managed to bite back her amusement as she saw his medical history. It really wasn't the appropriate time, but she couldn't help it. "She nearly cut off his dick."

Tenten blinked in shock as Lee paled significantly.

"She also injected Gai with a lethal dose of whatever he was using on her." Kakashi looked up and stared long and hard at the body. "That's probably what killed you, ya know."

Neji walked over at that moment and reached for the chart in Kakashi's hand. "What kind of poison was it?"

"I'm not sure of the name and it's not listed, but the poison he was using has a nasty habit of slowly suffocating the victim's visceral organs by denying oxygenated blood from entering them. You three remember Hayate, the chunin exam proctor that died?"

Neji nodded as he flipped the chart closed and placed it on the edge of Gai's bed.

"It's the same poison Iwa used on his lungs. Usually if the antidote can be given within a few minutes the poison's effects can be healed. Unfortunately for Gai, his victim poured the entire bottle down his throat. The antidote worked as well as it could, but not enough to save him."

Lee's voice was full of emotion as he turned away from the hospital bed. "What a horrible way to die."

Silently Neji agreed. Neji may not have been a woman, but he knew about Gai's ways. The man had approached him early on as a genin about the way women in the Hyuuga clan were treated. Neji could vividly remember their talks about male dominance in the households of Konoha. He could also remember how Gai ranted and raved about the snobby kunoichi. Though Neji never really bought into what his sensei was saying, being too obsessed with fate at the time, he still used it as fodder for his hate for Hinata. Neji swallowed thickly as he thanked his lucky stars for Uzumaki Naruto because without him, Neji might have eventually become something like Gai.

Kakashi sighed as she moved away from the bed and place a hand on Lee's shoulder. She could see the internal struggle the taijutsu master was having. Lee had loved Gai like a father and still did, despite the awful things Gai did. Lee couldn't help it that his beloved sensei was a misogynist. He couldn't help it that he still loved the man he saw as a father figure, once upon a time even Anko still had feelings for Orochimaru.

Neji surveyed Gai's covered body before turning from the bed. He no longer needed to be there, his closure was already found. "I'm at peace with it."

Tenten watched as Neji simply walked out of the room. She stepped closer to Gai's bed before peeling back the white sheet from his face. He was covered in fingernail scratches, but they were clean and light pink against the paleness of his skin. She leaned closer to him, hoping that her voice wouldn't carry too far in the quiet room.

"Do you see me, Sensei? Do you see the way I'm dressed? I'm a woman and I'm damn proud of it. You and your memory will never stop me from achieving my dreams."

She stepped away from the bed and gave Lee a soft smile. Tenten made peace with her demons and simply walked from the room, leaving Kakashi and Lee standing there alone. Lee was too busy looking at Gai's uncovered face to even care about Tenten's leaving. A small choked sob came from Lee as the door closed behind Tenten.

Kakashi squeezed his shoulder with her hand before slowly dropping it to her side. She really wasn't very good at this emotional stuff, even when Nami came in crying over a skinned knee, Kakashi usually just bandaged the girl up and sent her to Naruto for the emotional baggage. Instead of walking away like her fight or flight senses were telling her to, Kakashi cleared her throat to get the young man's attention.

"Lee."

"I bet you find me pathetic, Kakashi-sensei. Here I am crying over a man that caused you a lot of grief."

"You know, Lee, even the Third loved Orochimaru after he defected, just as I loved Sasuke. The bond between student and teacher is a delicate one that doesn't break easily. You are not pathetic, you are strong and I admire the selfless heart you have."

Lee choked up once more before he quickly turned to Kakashi and tightly hugged the woman. Kakashi was doing her best to not break out of the grip and eventually settled for awkwardly patting Lee's back as he cried into her shoulder. Lee pulled away from her and wiped his tears away before turning to Gai and nodding towards the body of his Sensei. It wasn't long before he too left the room, leaving Kakashi alone with her tormentor.

The door behind her opened as the blond Hokage stepped up beside her. "Everything went well I assume?"

Kakashi nodded before she reached for Naruto's hand. "He really hurt those three, but he hurt Lee most of all."

"I know."

"They've bounced back amazingly, though."

Naruto nodded as he gently let go of Kakashi's hand and covered Gai's face back up. He took Kakashi's hand again and pulled her close before holding up the ram seal for the Shunshin jutsu. They reappeared back in his office to see Namiko snoozing in Naruto's chair.

Naruto gently reached down and took her into his arms before sitting down in the chair. "She's exhausted."

"As she should be, she's had a busy day."

Naruto hummed quietly to himself as Nami slept in his arms, something he missed doing now that she was old enough to fall asleep without being rocked. A knock sounded on his office door, breaking the peaceful mood and waking up the little girl in his arms. He knew exactly who it was too. His lunch break was over which meant it was time for his daily council meeting.

Kakashi winked at her scowling husband as she removed Nami from his arms and gave him a teasing wave. She and their daughter disappeared before his eyes just as the council members walked into his office.

* * *

Later that night, after Nami was put in bed and the two adults managed to agree on who would do the dishes and who would wash the clothes, Kakashi attempted to drag Naruto into their bedroom. Unfortunately for Kakashi's libido, Naruto was more interested in the stack of papers in his hands. Upon further inspection she discovered they were copies of Iruka's report on Namiko. To the side, though, were several pages of notes written in a scrawl she recognized, but couldn't place.

She snatched them from behind him as she flipped through the notes. Some of the words such as 'solid illusion' and 'gender seal' immediately caught her attention. She looked up to meet Naruto's eyes as she brandished the papers in front of him. "Mind telling me what this is?"

Naruto reached over and playfully pinched the fleshy underside of her thigh as he took the papers back from her. He held up the ones with Nami's name on them. "This is Iruka's report on Nami. Did you know she's left handed?"

Kakashi pushed those papers away and pointed towards the ones Naruto was trying to hide behind him. "Stop trying to change the subject. What are those papers?"

Naruto opened his mouth, looking very much like a fish with his mouth gaping open, only to close it again as Kakashi took the papers away from him and flipped to the very front. He only watched as she read down the first page, stopping as she came to her own name. It was then that she recognized the handwriting.

"These are my father's notes. Where did you get them?"

Naruto shrugged as he reached over and pulled Kakashi flush against his side. "I found them a while back. We've been trying to catalog the documents in our archives and I just so happened to find this while I was down there."

"Not that I don't appreciate this, but why did you bring them to me? I already knew a lot of this about the seal."

Naruto blushed slightly as he pressed a kiss against the shoulder beside him. "You're technically not supposed to have them yet. I wanted to give them to you later, but you're stubborn," he winked at her cheekily. "You've always gone out of your way to give me stuff that belonged to my parents and I wanted to return the favor. It's not much, but it's a beginning."

Kakashi smiled as she flipped through a few of the pages.

"Naru-"

"No, don't say a word. It's your turn to listen right now. I know we're not the most conventional couple, we don't celebrate anniversaries and birthdays like others, but I've been planning this for a while now and I want it to go off without a hitch."

Kakashi looked up and met Naruto's impassioned eyes. They sparkled with just a hint of mischief as he got up from the bed and motioned for her to follow him. It wasn't 'til she realized he was leading her outside that she stopped and looked back towards Nami's room. She knew the ANBU were watching Nami, but she didn't want her daughter waking up to find them gone. She quickly summoned Bull and asked him to go to Nami's room before finally following after Naruto.

He didn't lead her far, just to the edge of their yard, before stopping and turning around. Stretching his arms out, he looked around him and grinned back at the woman. "What do you see?"

Kakashi looked out to see the farmland of the family that bought the Hatake family lands. "Farmlands."

"Yes, yes, but whose farmlands?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the other man. "The Sasaki family?"

Naruto shook his head as he gave her a soft smile. "No sweetheart, they're yours."

The silver haired woman blinked in surprise, as she tried to detect a lie in his voice and body language. "What are you talking about? I sold these lands when I was younger."

"I bought them back, well, I actually traded lands. These for the Uchiha lands just rotting away on the other side of the village."

"How?"

Naruto shrugged as he held out his hand for her to take. She took it and quickly found herself pulled into his warm embrace. "I talked to them and offered them the Uchiha lands and in return you were given back the Hatake lands."

"That's not fair to them, Naruto, they've toiled this land for years with great success. It may take years to get the Uchiha clan lands fertile enough to produce a crop. I want these lands, but I can't take them away from a family like that."

Naruto hugged her tighter as she tried to move away from him. "Kakashi, I would never do something so thoughtless. I've made a deal with them, they'll continue farming this land and collecting the crops, but the land itself is back in your name."

The silver haired female was quiet as she thought over what her husband said. "Mine in name only?"

Naruto nodded, "I even told them they could keep all the profits. I know it's not the worth of the land that matters to you, but it's how much the land meant to your family that drove you to try and get them back. This is a part of your heritage and I want you to have it back."

Kakashi swallowed down the emotion in her throat as she looked around at her lands. Finally, there was something from her youth she could make right. Looking back at Naruto, she grinned before leaning forward and capturing his lips. Roaming hands and lingering kisses told Naruto everything Kakashi wanted to say but couldn't get past the lump of emotion in her throat.

It wasn't long before she was pulling him back inside the house and into their bedroom. All too soon, but not quite soon enough, clothes began disappearing and quiet chuckles rang throughout the room as Naruto fought against the mesh shirt clinging to Kakashi's chest. Just as he was ready to rip the fabric down the middle, Kakashi managed to get it off and toss it into a corner.

Naruto grinned before he quickly leaned back in to reconnect their lips. Hot, heavy, fast, furious, were the only things he could think of as he attempted to dominate the silver haired beauty sitting in front of him. Kakashi pulled away quickly. She wasn't looking for hot and heavy tonight. She wanted something slow and sensual. She needed to show Naruto how thankful she was because she didn't trust her voice to convey all the flyaway emotions she was feeling without making her sound like a weepy girl.

Of course, Naruto never was good at listening to her orders, silent or spoken.

She continued pushing him away every time he came in hot and heavy. In frustration the man glared at her. Kakashi only chuckled as she leaned forward and gently coaxed her husband's lips into a soft kiss. Every time he tried to increase the intensity of the kiss, she'd pull away 'til Naruto stopped fighting her.

"You're such a pain-in-the-ass."

Kakashi snorted as she kissed the corner of his mouth and whispered into his ear, sending slight shivers down Naruto's spine.

"Stop being impatient, I swear you're acting like a pre-genin. Slow and steady wins the race, Naruto-kun."

The fire in Naruto's eyes increased as Kakashi took his face between her hands and continued her feather light kisses along his jaw. His heart leapt in his chest as he realized how gentle she was being, something so unusual for her. It was then that everything clicked in Naruto's mind.

He sighed into the room as he maneuvered her below him.

It was possibly the single most sensual thing Kakashi had ever felt. Their sex life was far from boring, but they rarely had sex like this. Their schedules were so haphazard that they were getting used to having quickies in the shower before work or hard fucks whenever they could find the time. It had been a while since Naruto had made love to her and that made it all the more

sweet.

When they finished, still breathing heavily and clutching close to each other, Kakashi snuggled close to his side and whispered a soft 'I love you' against the shell of his ear.

* * *

"Mama! Daddy! Wake up!"

Naruto opened one eye to see his daughter pouting at him from beside the bed. He instantly noticed she was taller than normal before looking down and seeing that she was sitting atop Bull. He turned to look at Kakashi and found her covering her head with a pillow. Tossing her a glare, Naruto tried to sit up then quickly remembered he wasn't exactly wearing clothes.

"Nami, go in the living room 'til Daddy takes his shower and, sweetie, Bull isn't a horse."

The girl giggled as she quickly hopped down from Bull's back and she took off out of the room with the ninken following close behind. Kakashi lifted her head from underneath the pillow and smiled at him.

"I thought you locked that door."

Naruto shrugged as he stood up and stretched. "I thought you did."

"Nope, good thing she sleeps through the night now or you'd have a nice time explaining what we were doing."

The blond haired man threw his wife a glare as he walked into the bathroom. His voice was barely loud enough to hear over the sound of the running water. "Why would I have to give her the sex talk? Aren't you her mother?"

Kakashi smirked as she got up and walked into the bathroom to see him sinking down into the steaming water. She stepped in behind him before answering. "I'm also the one that reads Jiraiya's stories. Do you really want a renowned pervert educating your daughter?"

Naruto snorted in laughter as he leaned back against Kakashi, resting his head on top of her shoulder. She turned her head and kissed him playfully on the lips before running her fingers through his hair. Naruto reached up and wrapped a hand around her wrist to pull it away from his hair. He looked up and met her eyes.

"We did alright, you know?"

Kakashi nodded as she pulled her wrist away from his hand and stroked his whiskered cheek. "We did more than alright. I think these past few years are the happiest I've ever been and I have you to thank for that."

The man grinned as he shook his head. "No, I have you to thank for my happiness. Looking back over the years, I could have been very lonely and missing all of this. Whatever made you decide to agree to my date all those years ago?"

"Honestly? I still don't know. I could take the easy way out and say loneliness, but that wasn't what propelled me to agree. I think it was the simple fact that it felt right. It felt nice to be around you, kind of like your light saved me from my darkness."

Naruto lowered his eyes as he thought back over everything his wife had told him about her childhood and how dark it really was for her. His childhood mimicked hers in a lot of ways, but instead of embracing the darkness like she did, he had fought against it. Just like he'd fought for everything he had in life.

"You know, at first I only asked you on a date in order to see your face," Naruto glanced out of the corner of his eye to see her listening intently to him, "and to see more of you in just a pair of shorts and training bra."

Kakashi snorted as she tugged on the hair at the nape of his neck. "Ahh, so the truth is finally revealed. You were only after my body," she gave him a wink as she kissed his cheek, "and they call me the pervert."

"Hey! I am a man, can you blame me? Besides, you have no room to talk, you cradle robbing cougar!"

Kakashi shrugged as she played with the tips of Naruto's damp hair. "That's how I like my men, young and virile."

Naruto chuckled as he leaned up and turned to straddle Kakashi's legs. Grasping the back of her head, Naruto kissed her deeply. He pulled away to find her smirking at him.

"Jealous, love?"

Naruto only reconnected their lips.

Their relationship may not have been the most conventional nor was their family the most traditional in all of Konoha, but the love they shared for one another burned brighter than the Will of Fire.

* * *

Wasn't that just cute? I'm glad this bunny is officially laid to rest. Though it is whispering in my ear to do a oneshot series, but I'm trying to not heed the call!

Thanks everybody for reading and don't forget to review if you have any comments or questions!

Until next time,

'Rayne


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